Hwang Sun-woo "I Won the World Championship Gold that I Didn't Have... A Stepping Stone to the Olympics"
Won the 200m freestyle event in Doha and collected gold, silver, and bronze at the world championships.
Hwang Seon-woo (20, Gangwon Provincial Office) filled his World Championship medal box with gold, silver, and bronze medals.
Expectations for winning a medal at the Paris Olympics have grown.
Sunwoo Hwang won the men's 200m freestyle final at the 2024 International Aquatics Federation World Championships held at the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar on the 14th (Korean time) with a time of 1 minute 44.75 seconds.
Hwang Seon-woo, who succeeded in becoming the first Korean swimmer to 'win two consecutive world championship medals' by taking second place (1 minute 44.47 seconds) in Budapest in 2022 and third place (1 minute 44.42 seconds) in Fukuoka in 2023, was the top podium finisher in Doha.
By climbing high, he completed his plan to win three consecutive medals with gold. 온라인카지노
After the game, Hwang Seon-woo said through his agency All That Sports, “I am very proud to have won a gold medal that I never had,” and added, “At the World Championships, there were only silver and bronze medals, so I wanted to win the gold medal.
“I am happy that I achieved that dream today,” he said.
David Popovic (Romania), who beat Sun-woo Hwang in Budapest in 2022, Matthew Richards, who won first place at the 2023 Fukuoka Games, and Tom Dean (Great Britain), who ranked second, will compete in the 200m freestyle at the Doha Games.
Hwang Sun-woo was considered the ‘most likely winner’ and actually became the 200m freestyle world championship champion.
There was a crisis.
Sunwoo Hwang, who started first with a reaction time of 0.62 seconds, maintained the lead by turning the 50m in 24.24 seconds and the 100m in 50.57 seconds.
However, at the 150m mark, he lost first place to Luke Hobson (20, USA).
Hobson ran the 150m in 1 minute 17.45 seconds, and Hwang Sun-woo ran 1 minute 17.86 seconds.
Sunwoo Hwang was not swayed by Hobson's race management and continued the race as planned.
He secured first place by running the last 50 meters in 26.89 seconds.
Hobson took third place with a time of 1 minute 45.26 seconds, and Danas Rapsis (28, Lithuania) took second place with a time of 1 minute 45.05 seconds.
Hwang Seon-woo said, "The pace was good until the 100m.
Hobson next to me increased his speed, but I felt like following Hobson would ruin my race, so I followed my plan."
He added, "I put up a fight in the last 50m, and it worked out well, finishing at 1 minute and 44 seconds.
“I finished with a good record and a good ranking,” he recalled.
Sunwoo Hwang won six medals (2 gold, 2 silver, and 2 bronze) at the Hangzhou Asian Games last fall, including 2 gold medals (men's 200m freestyle, men's 800m relay).
Now, the only blank space left on Hwang Sun-woo's medal resume is 'Olympic Games.'
Sunwoo Hwang will wear the armband of ‘World Championship Champion’ and participate in the Paris Olympics opening in July.
He said, “The opening of the Paris Olympics is just 5 months away.
I think I have laid a good foundation for winning an Olympic medal.”
He added, “Tapering (after training in Australia for 4 weeks) is the process of recovering from fatigue in time for the competition day.”
"I was worried because it didn't go well, but I won the gold medal.
If I prepare well for the remaining five months, I will be able to achieve good results at the Paris Olympics, he said."
Sunwoo Hwang will compete in the 100m freestyle individual event and the 800m men's relay team event.
Although he has yet to win a world championship medal in the 100m freestyle, Swimswam, a media outlet specializing in swimming, predicted that the first to third place in the 100m freestyle at this competition would be Fan Zhanle (China), Alessandro Miresi (Italy), and Hwang Sun-woo.
For the men's 100m freestyle, the preliminary round will be held on the afternoon of the 14th, the semifinals on the morning of the 15th, and the medal color will be decided on the 16th.
The men's 800m relay will have preliminary rounds on the afternoon of the 16th and finals on the morning of the 17th.
The Korean national team, which will consist of Hwang Sun-woo, Kim Woo-min, Lee Ho-jun (22, Jeju City Hall), and Lee Yu-yeon (23, Goyang City Hall), is considered a candidate to win this tournament.
Sunwoo Hwang said, “There are 100m freestyle and 800m men’s relay left, but I want to manage my condition well and show a good performance in the remaining races.”
