Kim Jun-woo, 6th Place in the Men\s 400m Freestyle
Kim Jun-woo, 6th Place in the Men"s 400m Freestyle at the World Junior Swimming Championships... 3 Minutes 50 Seconds 67
Korean swimming prospect Kim Jun-woo (15, Gwangseong High School) ranked 6th in the men"s 400m freestyle at the World Junior Championships.
Kim Jun-woo took sixth place, setting a personal best of 3 minutes 50.67 seconds in the men"s 400m freestyle final held in Netanya, Israel on the 5th (Korean time).
In the preliminaries in which 61 participants participated, Kim Jun-woo advanced to the finals in 7th place overall with a time of 3 minutes 52.18 seconds, 2.01 seconds ahead of his previous personal record of 3 minutes 54.19 seconds set at the national team selection event in March of this year.
In the finals, he shortened his record even further and moved up one place in the ranking.
The World Junior Swimming Championships are competitions for athletes aged 14 to 18.
Kim Jun-woo failed to advance to the finals in the men"s 400m freestyle event in Peru last year when he was in his third year at Changcheon Middle School, finishing in 3 minutes 58.16 seconds and 14th place in the preliminary round.
As he entered high school, Kim Jun-woo"s records rose steeply.
Kim Jun-woo, who participated in the men"s general division of the national team selection competition in March of this year, finished the race in 3 minutes 54.19 seconds, taking second place after Kim Woo-min (21, Gangwon Provincial Office), who won in 3 minutes 45.59 seconds.
Kim Jun-woo"s personal best time in the 400m freestyle, which was 3 minutes 54.19 seconds before the World Junior Championships, was 3 minutes 50.67 seconds during the preliminaries and finals, which is 3.52 seconds faster.
Kim Jun-woo was the youngest athlete to advance to the men"s 400m freestyle finals.
He was the only Asian athlete to advance to the finals of this event.
In the men"s 400m freestyle, Petar Michi (18, Bulgaria) won in 3 minutes 46.49 seconds.
At the European Junior Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia in July of this year, Madi reached the top by setting a new junior record (3 minutes 44.41 seconds) in the 400m freestyle, and also won a gold medal at the World Junior Championships.
Alessandro Lagaini (17, Italy) took second place with 3 minutes 46.66 seconds, and Filippo Bertoni (17, Italy) took third place with 3 minutes 48.73 seconds.
Park Si-eun (16, Gangwon Physical Education High School) placed 11th in the women"s 50m breaststroke semifinals with a time of 31.81 seconds, missing out on a ticket to the finals that was given to 8 people.
Yoo Ji-hwan (16, Gangwon Physical Education High School), who competed in the men"s 100m backstroke, also unfortunately failed to advance to the finals, finishing in 55.41 seconds and 11th place in the semifinals.