▲ Kim Woo-min of South Korea takes a start in the final of the men's 400-meter freestyle swimming at the World Aquatics Championships at Marine Messe Fukuoka Hall A in Fukuoka, Japan, on July 23, 2023. (Yonhap)
▲ Kim Woo-min of South Korea competes in the final of the men's 400-meter freestyle swimming at the World Aquatics Championships at Marine Messe Fukuoka Hall A in Fukuoka, Japan, on July 23, 2023. (Yonhap)
▲ Kim Woo-min of South Korea checks his time after competing in the final of the men's 400-meter freestyle swimming at the World Aquatics Championships at Marine Messe Fukuoka Hall A in Fukuoka, Japan, on July 23, 2023. (Yonhap)

(LEAD) swimmer-world championships final

(LEAD) S. Korean Kim Woo-min finishes 5th in 400m free at swimming worlds

(ATTN: ADDS photos, details, comments throughout)

By Yoo Jee-ho

FUKUOKA, Japan, July 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korean Kim Woo-min finished fifth in the men's 400-meter freestyle at the swimming world championships Sunday, setting a personal best for the second time on the same day.

Kim touched the pad in 3:43.92 in his second consecutive final appearance at the World Aquatics Championships in the Japanese port city of Fukuoka.

The 21-year-old finished sixth in the same event at last year's world championships in Budapest.

In the heats earlier Sunday, Kim established a new personal best with 3:44.52 while finishing sixth, and then erased that mark only hours later.

Prior to Sunday, Kim's personal best had been 3:45.59, set at the national team trials in March.

"After setting a new personal best this morning, I tried to focus on recovering in time for the final," Kim said. "I knew I was really well prepared for this competition and all I had to do was to recover. I felt great warming up in the afternoon, and I had an amazing time racing against such influential swimmers."

This was the first swimming final of this year's world championships, which began on July 14 with artistic swimming and diving.

Kim had the fastest reaction time in the final at 0.60 second, and he was in second place at the 50m and then the 100m mark. He was still in the bronze medal position at the halfway mark at 1:50.52, before falling off the pace a bit.

He fell to fourth place with 100m to go. Kim came home in 27.56 seconds to clinch his career-best finish at the worlds.

Samuel Short of Australia won the gold medal in 3:40.68, 0.61 shy of the world record. The reigning Olympic champion from Tunisia, Ahmed Hafnaoui, won silver here at 3:40.70. Lukas Martens of Germany took home bronze in 3:42.20.

(END)

[ⓒ K-VIBE. 무단전재-재배포 금지]