What a shame! 5th in the 800m relay, 1st place with 2 consecutive medals, 7 minutes 00 seconds 91 seconds, 2nd place in Asia, 3rd place in Australia

Aug 01, 2025

What a shame! 5th in the 800m relay, 1st place with 2 consecutive medals, 7 minutes 00 seconds 91 seconds, 2nd place in Asia, 3rd place in Australia



What a shame! 5th in the 800m relay, 1st place with 2 consecutive medals, 7 minutes 00 seconds 91 seconds, 2nd place in Asia, 3rd place in Australia
(Jincheon = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Sung-min = The national management team players are taking a commemorative photo at the Jincheon National Training Center in Chungcheongbuk-do on the 8th. From left, Kim Young-beom, Kim Woo-min, Hwang Sun-woo, and Lee Ho-joon. 2025.7.8
South Korea's swimming 'Golden Generation' narrowly missed its second consecutive medal in the 800m relay at the Singapore World Swimming Championships.

The Korean relay team consisting of Hwang Sun-woo, Kim Woo-min, Kim Young-beom (Gangwon Provincial Government) and Lee Ho-joon (Jeju City Hall) took the touchpad for the fifth time among the eight countries that advanced to the final with a time of 7:02.29 in the men's 800m relay final at the 2025 World Championship in Singapore on the 1st (Korea time).

What a shame! 5th in the 800m relay, 1st place with 2 consecutive medals, 7 minutes 00 seconds 91 seconds, 2nd place in Asia, 3rd place in Australia
Final stage, 3 lanes in Korea. The current was split between 2 Lane USA (Henry McFadden, Gabriel Jett, Luke Hobson, Rex Michael Morr) and 4 Lane England (Matthew Richards, James Guy, Jack McMillan, Duncan Scott). He entered the starting table by clapping vigorously. Like the preliminary round, Kim Young-beom came out as the first 200m English speaker. After passing the 50m first, the 200m section was 1:46.23. 'Freestyle 400m bronze medalist' Kim Woo-min reflected the 200-400m section.In the first 100m section, he ranked third after Britain and China. In the 200m section, it was 1:44.66, which was a call record. He passed the baton to Lee Ho-joon in third place. Lee Ho-joon fell to fifth place, and the U.S. rose to first place. He ranked fifth after the U.S., Australia, the U.K., and China, and handed over the baton to Hwang Sun-woo, the final Englishman with a time of 1:46.14. Hwang Sun-woo pushed back with all his might. The rankings of the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, and China were maintained. At the end of the final 50m, he failed to come from behind and finished with a time of 7:02.29. He targeted the second consecutive podium following last year's silver medal at the Doha Games, but his physical burden was greater than that of his competitors in the morning and afternoon preliminaries. After the Paris Olympics, he missed the podium again, swallowing regret.




The U.K. ranked first with 6:59:84, China ranked second with a new Asian record of 7:00:91, Australia ranked third with 7:00:98, and the U.S. ranked fourth with 7:01:24.

The World Championship relay podium is a symbol of the world's most recognized swimming powerhouse. It was a dream to go to the finals, where only eight teams went up, a sport that has been monopolized by advanced swimming countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. However, with the advancement of the golden generation represented by Hwang Sun-woo and Kim Woo-min, the dream came true. In 2019, Hwang Sun-woo, Lee Yoo-yeon, and Lee Ho-joon first played at the Gwangju World Championships, the record was 7:15:05. The golden generation has reduced 11 seconds in the next five years. At the 2022 World Championships in Budapest, finishing sixth with a time of 7:06.93 for the first time in history was the beginning of the turnaround history. At the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, he finished sixth with a time of 7:04:07 and two consecutive finals. At the Hangzhou Asian Games that year, he won the gold medal with a new Asian record of 7:01.73 and a new Asian record, and at the Doha World Championships last year, he gave up the gold medal by 0.1 seconds to China (7:01.84), but he cheered by reaching the relay podium for the first time in the history of the world championships. However, the real match was the stage for the Paris Olympics last summer because the U.S., Britain, and Australia did not make the best members with the Olympics in mind. The golden generation achieved their dream of going to the finals for the first time at the Olympics, where they aimed to win their first medal ever, but they shed tears again in sixth place with a poor record of 7:07.26 in the finals. It was largely due to the failure to discover the fourth letter of the world class '1 minute 46 seconds'. Britain (James Guy, Tom Dean, Matthew Richards, Duncan Scott) won the gold medal with 6:59:43, the U.S. (Luke Hobson, Carson Foster, Drew Kibler, Kieran Smith) took the silver medal with 7:00:78, and Australia (Maximilian Giuliani, Flynn Sudham, Eliza Winnington, and Thomas Neal) took the bronze medal with 7:01:98. There was a lot of regret that if only there were English characters in the 46th second period, there would have been a record of the Hangzhou Asian Games.

Ahead of the first world championship in a year, the golden generation's long-standing worries have emerged. Kim Young-beom, who is a "welcome Hanshin holder", also showed remarkable record growth in freestyle short distances. Kim Young-beom, born in 2006, with a height of 1m95 and wingspan of 2m16, matched the last puzzle of '46,46,' with a time of 1:46.13 in the 200m freestyle at the Gwangju National Swimming Championships in June. With the new hope of Korean swimming, he has inflated expectations for a new Korean record of 800m relay medal. Kim Young-beom also raised the atmosphere with a spirited run of "The world record of 800m in relay is the goal" ahead of his participation in the world championships, and he made efforts as the first Englishman in the 800m in relay, recording a personal record of 1:45.72. It was a more disappointing race because he did so well. The golden generation of Korea, which recorded the highest ever results at the Doha event, including the gold medal of Hwang Sun-woo (200m freestyle) and Kim Woo-min (400m freestyle) and the silver medal in the 800m relay, will finish the event with Kim Woo-min's 400m freestyle bronze medal.




Reporter Jeon Young-ji sky4us@sportschosun.com



This article was translated by Naver AI translator.