A total of six athletes passed the International Swimming Federation’s A standard at the 2024 Swimming (Management) National Team Trials, held from March 23 to 28.
The youngest of them is Yoon Ji-hwan (17, Gangwon Cheongo), who won the 50-meter backstroke and qualified for the long course (50 meters) World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar, next February.
Yoon, now a high school sophomore, was the first to touch the touchpad in 24.96 seconds in the 50-meter backstroke final at the Gimcheon Indoor Pool in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, on Sunday, beating the likes of Lee Ju-ho (Seogwipo City Hall), Won Young-joon (Ulsan Metropolitan City Hall) and Song Im-gyu (Gangwon Province).
As he continues to shave seconds off his time, Yoon is now just 0.03 seconds away from the Korean record of 24.93 in the 50-meter backstroke, set by Kang Ji-seok in 2018.
Yoon’s time of 24.96 was good for a bronze medal in the 50-meter backstroke final at the Hangzhou Asian Games and is ranked No. 9 in the world for the 2023-2024 season.
A total of six athletes passed the International Swimming Federation’s A standard at the 2024 Swimming (Management) National Team Trials, held from March 23 to 28.
The youngest of them is Yoon Ji-hwan (17, Gangwon Cheongo), who won the 50-meter backstroke and qualified for the long course (50 meters) World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar, next February.
Yoon, now a high school sophomore, was the first to touch the touchpad in 24.96 seconds in the 50-meter backstroke final at the Gimcheon Indoor Pool in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, on Sunday, beating the likes of Lee Ju-ho (Seogwipo City Hall), Won Young-joon (Ulsan Metropolitan City Hall) and Song Im-gyu (Gangwon Province).
As he continues to shave seconds off his time, Yoon is now just 0.03 seconds away from the Korean record of 24.93 in the 50-meter backstroke, set by Kang Ji-seok in 2018.
Yoon’s time of 24.96 was good for a bronze medal in the 50-meter backstroke final at the Hangzhou Asian Games and is ranked No. 9 in the world for the 2023-2024 season.
It was an improvement of 0.08 seconds for Yun, who had won the event at the National Championships in 25.04 just a month earlier.
Yoon said, “I prepared after seeing the Korean record, but unfortunately I couldn’t break it. I will prepare to break it in the next competition.”
To say these words, Yoon had to organize them in his head for more than 10 seconds.
Although he still feels awkward speaking in front of a large group of people, he becomes a completely different person when he gets into the water.
He started swimming in the third grade and became an athlete just because he liked the water, and now he is challenging for the Korean record. 슬롯게이밍