(Asiad) S. Korea takes 1 silver, 2 bronze medals on Day 1 of swimming
TOKYO, Sept. 20 (Yonhap) -- South Korea picked up one silver and two bronze medals on the first day of swimming at the Asian Games in Japan on Sunday, a solid start for the country trying to match a heady success from three years ago.
Kim Young-beom and Hwang Sun-woo shared the podium in the men's 100-meter freestyle at Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Tokyo, as they got silver and bronze behind Pan Zhanle of China.
South Korean swimmers Hwang Sun-woo (L) and Kim Young-beom pose with their bronze and silver medals won in the men's 100-meter freestyle race at the Asian Games at Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Tokyo on Sept. 20, 2026. (Yonhap)
Kim clocked 47.65 seconds and Hwang finished in 47.79, while Pan touched the pad in 47.61.
Then in the men's 100m backstroke, Lee Ju-ho collected his third straight bronze with a time of 53.94 seconds. Xu Jiayu of China won gold in 51.98, and Hidekazu Takehara of Japan was the silver medalist with 53.93.
Elsewhere, South Korea had a quartet of fourth-place finishes.
Kim Yun-hui finished fourth in the women's 200m butterfly in 2:09.81, just 0.14 second back of the bronze medalist, Misa Okuzono of Japan.
In the next final, Kim Min-suk ended up in fourth place in the men's 200m individual medley with a time of 1:59.69. China's Wang Shun grabbed the bronze in 1:57.14.
Then in the women's 1,500m, Kim Chae-yun finished fourth in 16:31.87, a little more than 25 seconds behind the bronze medalist, Ichika Kajimoto of Japan.
Lee Ju-ho of South Korea looks at his bronze medal won in the 100-meter backstroke swimming race at the Asian Games at Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Tokyo on Sept. 20, 2026. (Yonhap)
In the day's last event, the women's 4x100m freestyle relay, South Korea's Lee Song-eun, Jo Hyun-ju, Hur Yeon-kyung and Kim Yun-hui combined for a time of 3:40.26 to rank fourth. Japan won bronze in 3:39.09.
South Korea won 22 medals at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, including six gold medals.
Tokyo is hosting all swimming races for the Asian Games while the central city of Nagoya is serving as the main host.
South Korea will try to defend gold medals in two events Monday -- in the men's 50m freestyle with Ji Yu-chan and in the men's 4x200m freestyle relay, where Hwang, Kim Young-beom, Kim Woo-min and Lee Ho-joon will be up against China and Japan.
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