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| Photo provided = All that Sports |
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"It's unfortunate that the record didn't come out as expected, but it's not bad."
Hwang Sun-woo (22, Gangwon Provincial Government), who missed his fourth consecutive podium by .18 seconds, expressed his calm feelings.
In the men's 200m freestyle final at the 2025 World Championship Arena in Singapore on the 29th (Korea time), Hwang Sun-woo hit the touchpad with a time of 1:44.72 to rank fourth among eight athletes.
Hwang Sun-woo, who advanced to the final with a personal best of the season at 1:44:84 in the semifinal the previous day and second overall, registered in lane 5. Luke Hobson was placed in lane 4, followed by David Popovich (Romania), who had the best record of 1:42.97 at the Paris Olympics. Hwang competed strongly from the beginning between Popovich (1:43.64) and Hobson (1:43.73), who recorded the world's 1st and 2nd place '43:'. He ran the first 50 meters with a time of 23.96 seconds to rank No. 1 in the world record pace. But it shook between Hobson and Popovich. Immediately after the 100m turn, it fell to third place after Hobson and Popovich, and fell to sixth place in the 100-150m section. The last 150-200m Hwang Sun-woo came up to fourth place with a spurt and failed to catch up with the third place 'Japan's 18th Shinseong' Tatsuya Murasa. Missed the medal in fourth place '0.18 s'. 'Olympic Champion' Popovich came in first with a time of 1:43.53; Hobson came in second with a time of 1:43.84; and Murasa came in third with a time of 1:44.54.
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| 'Paris Olympic champion'David Popovich took first place with a time of 1:43.53; 'Olympic bronze medalist' Luke Hobson took second with a time of 1:43.84; and 'Japan's 18-year-old Shin Seong'Tatsuya Murasa came third with a time of 1:44:54. |
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| Screen capture=Sky Sports |
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Hwang Sun-woo's record of 1:44:40.72 in the men's 200m freestyle was 0.32 seconds behind his best record at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, but it was clearly insufficient for the fourth consecutive podium. Hwang won the podium for the third consecutive time in Budapest 2022 (silver), Fukuoka 2023 (bronze), and Doha last year (Friday).
Ahead of next year's Aichi and Nagoya Asian Games, Murasa 'Japan Shinseong' emerged as a strong contender for the medal race. Meanwhile, Hwang Sun-woo, who missed a medal in the main event, focuses on the 100m freestyle and team events. Kim Woo-min, Lee Ho-joon and Kim Young-beom will once again challenge for the fourth consecutive podium in the 800m relay on the 1st of next month.
After the race, Hwang Sun-woo said in All That Sports "It's a pity that the record didn't come out better than expected, but I was able to produce a record that was close to my best in a short period of time. It's a pity, but it's not a bad contest." Hwang's race continues. She will try again for the fourth consecutive podium in the 100-meter freestyle preliminaries on the 29th and the men's 800-meter relay preliminaries on the 1st. "The 100m freestyle preliminaries will begin tomorrow morning. I'll do my best as it's my second main event" expressed his determination.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
