(Asiad) Swimming relay anchor thanks injured teammate for lucky cap

TOKYO, Sept. 24 (Yonhap) -- For the final of the men's 4x100-meter freestyle swimming at the Asian Games on Thursday, Kim Young-beom wore a cap belonging to someone else.

The anchor for South Korea, Kim borrowed a cap from Kim Woo-min, a three-time gold medalist at the previous Asiad in 2023 who was sidelined with a shoulder injury here. Kim Woo-min battled through left shoulder pains to race in the heats for the 4x100m relay Thursday morning and then withdrew from the rest of the competition.

Kim Young-beom decided to take Woo-min's cap for some good luck and the headgear apparently worked its charm. Young-beom helped South Korea win the silver medal in the final at Tokyo Aquatics Centre, with his anchoring split of 46.84 seconds -- second only to Pan Zhanle of the gold medal-winning China -- after Hwang Sun-woo, Kim Ji-hun and Yang Jae-hoon handled the first three legs.

"I know Woo-min showed not even 1 percent of all the work he had done to prepare for this competition, and I wanted him to feel better," Young-beom said with his fifth medal in Tokyo around his neck. "I think it is all thanks to his cap that I broke 47 seconds in the 100m for the first time. I want to thank him and others for racing in the heats this morning."

Three of Kim's five medals here came in relays, and he said he had fun in all the team events.

"In a relay, usually you would see one swimmer who struggles and brings down the rest of the team. But we never once had that in any relay here," Kim said. "Every member had a perfect race. It was impossible to figure out who should have done better."

Yang Jae-hoon, the veteran of the quartet at 28, said competing alongside teammates sharpens his focus.

"In individual races, you only have to worry about yourself. But in relays, you never want to let your teammates down," he said. "A small mistake can be pretty costly for the entire team, so there is some extra pressure."

Hwang, no stranger to relays as he won gold in the 4x200m freestyle relay three years ago, posted his personal-best 100m time of 47.50 seconds as the leadoff man Thursday. He said he felt so good during his afternoon warmup that he had the inkling that he would set his personal record -- though he did not tell anyone, lest he jinx it.

"I was shocked when I saw my time on the board," he said. "That gave me one percent of confidence, and I will feel the remaining 99 percent over the next two years ahead of the Olympics."

Kim Ji-hun said all he wanted to do was make sure he would not hurt the team.

"I want to thank my teammates for picking me up," said Kim, who posted the team's slowest split with 48.70. "I think the silver medal was still a great result but I think we are capable of reaching the top."

While Hwang has been the face of South Korean swimming for the past handful of years, Kim Young-beom enjoyed his breakout campaign here at age 20. Others are taking notice, too, including Pan Zhanle of China, the world record holder in the 100m freestyle who held off Kim to defend his Asiad crown in Tokyo.

Kim said he and Pan spoke a little bit on the podium -- "I think my English improved during this competition," Kim quipped -- and said the Chinese star gave him some words of encouragement.

"He told me I was the Asian champion in his heart, and I will be the one to break his 100m world record," Kim said. "This has been such a fun event. Even though I swam every day, I always felt like I could be even better the next day. I have never felt like that before. During the final 50m today, I even had a dopamine rush. It is a shame I don't have any event left here."