(LEAD) (Asiad) S. Korea claims bronze in 4x200m freestyle relay swimming

(ATTN: ADDS details, comments in last 8 paras, photo)
By Yoo Jee-ho

TOKYO, Sept. 21 (Yonhap) -- South Korea won bronze in the men's 4x200-meter freestyle relay in swimming at the Asian Games on Monday, coming up shy of its title defense.

The quartet of Kim Jun-woo, Kim Woo-min, Lee Ho-joon and Hwang Sun-woo combined for a time of 7:06.76, finishing in third place at Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Tokyo, as China broke its own Asian record with 7:00.17. Japan, after leading most of the way, settled for silver in 7:01.05.

Kim Woo-min, Lee and Hwang had won the 2023 Asian Games gold together with a different fourth member, Yang Jae-hoon, with a then continental record of 7:01.73.

China broke that mark last year, clocking 7:00.91, and it bettered that record by another 0.74 second on Monday.

The medal capped a productive Day 2 in the pool for South Korea, which picked up one gold and four bronze medals.

Hwang and Kim Woo-min did not participate in the relay heats, with Yang and Kim Min-seop taking their places. Yang and Kim Min-seop both received the medals, too.

Kim Jun-woo led off the final with an opening split of 1:47.16, putting South Korea 2.46 seconds behind Japan in third place. And South Korea stayed in third place for the remainder of the race.

Kim Woo-min followed with 1:46.16, and Lee covered his leg in 1:47.57, leaving South Korea 5.53 seconds out of the lead with no realistic chance of defending its crown. As the anchor, Hwang covered the last leg in 1:45.87, nearly three full seconds slower than the Chinese anchor Zhang Zhanshuo, who helped his team pull off a massive comeback over the home stretch.

The four South Korean swimmers all wore a despondent look afterward, unhappy with both the color of the medal and the time.

"I am happy that we won our second straight medal, but at the same time, I am a bit disappointed with the outcome," Kim Woo-min said. "We wanted to defend our title, but we just did not get it done."

Kim Jun-woo, the youngest member of the team at 19, said he was honored to have competed alongside the veterans in his Asian Games debut.

"I learned so much from this experience," he said. "I hope to use this as a launching pad and develop into a more competitive swimmer."

Both Lee and Hwang both said, as disappointed as they were with their first relay, they want to stay ready for the remaining races.

"I felt we were the underdogs coming in, even though we were the defending champions," Hwang added. "Chinese and Japanese swimmers were peaking for this event, and I don't think we were quite able to match them here. Hopefully, we will do better in upcoming relays."