(Olympics) swimmer-performance
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| ▲ Hwang Sun-woo of South Korea prepares for the men's 100m freestyle swimming final at the Tokyo Olympics at Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Tokyo on July 29, 2021. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ Hwang Sun-woo of South Korea jumps into the pool at Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Tokyo to start the men's 100m freestyle swimming final at the Tokyo Olympics on July 29, 2021. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ Hwang Sun-woo of South Korea checks his time after completing the men's 100m freestyle swimming final at the Tokyo Olympics at Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Tokyo on July 29, 2021. (Yonhap) |
(Olympics) swimmer-performance
(Olympics) Teen swimmer's exciting rise to stardom continues with top-5 finish
By Yoo Jee-ho
TOKYO, July 29 (Yonhap) -- South Korean swimmer Hwang Sun-woo arrived in Tokyo for his first Olympics this month as an up-and-comer to watch, someone who could maybe grow into a fringe medal contender by the next Olympics in 2024.
At this rate, Hwang, 18, will leave Tokyo as a force to be reckoned with, not in 2024 but much sooner than that.
Hwang finished fifth in the men's 100m freestyle final on Thursday, the best performance by an Asian swimmer in that event since 1952. He clocked 47.82 seconds, 0.80 back of the winner, Caeleb Dressel of the United States.
Hiroshi Suzuki of Japan won silver that year, and no one from the continent has reached the podium since. In 1956, another Japanese swimmer, Atsushi Tani, finished seventh in the 100m free. Hwang is the first Asian man to even race in the 100m freestyle final since Tani.
This was Hwang's second final in Tokyo. He was also among eight finalists for the 200m freestyle on Tuesday. He was in the lead at the 150m mark before fading away to finish in seventh. It was still the best Olympic performance by a South Korean swimmer since Park Tae-hwan won a silver medal in each of the 200m and 400m freestyle finals in 2012.
En route to reaching the 100m final, Hwang set an Asian record with 47.56 in Wednesday's semifinals, a day after breaking Park's 11-year-old South Korean record in the heats.
His time in the final was a tick slower but that did little to dampen the excitement and sense of anticipation surrounding the teen swimmer growing right before our eyes.
Hwang landed in Tokyo with the world's fifth-fastest time in the 200m and 13th-best time in the 100m this year. Given his inexperience, Hwang wasn't considered an immediate medal contender here. The hope was he'd be able to grow from his first taste of the Olympics and then get into more serious contention in Paris three years later.
Hwang doesn't appear to be interested in wasting much time. The future may already be here.
Hwang's race strategy is refreshing in that he doesn't really have one.
"It's difficult enough to reach the final in the 100m. I didn't have any strategy," Hwang said Wednesday after booking his spot in the final. "I just wanted to jump in and give it everything I have."
He stuck to much the same plan on Thursday. He had the fastest reaction time at 0.58 second. Up against world beaters like Dressel and the 2016 gold medalist Kyle Chalmers, though, Hwang's everything wasn't nearly enough.
He was sixth at the halfway mark but improved to fifth by the end. Hwang's final 50m split of 24.70 seconds was 0.25 faster than that of the bronze medalist, Kliment Kolesnikov of the Russian Olympic Committee.
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