(Asiad) Swimmer pleased with bronze in 1st race

TOKYO, Sept. 20 (Yonhap) -- He did not quite post the time he had wanted but Hwang Sun-woo said Sunday he was still pleased with his bronze medal in the men's 100-meter freestyle swimming race at the Asian Games in Tokyo.

Hwang finished third in the final with a time of 47.79 seconds, with Pan Zhanle of China taking gold in 47.61 and fellow Korean Kim Young-beom grabbing silver in 47.65.

"Although it is not the record I wanted, I still had the best time of the season so far," Hwang said after winning his second straight Asiad bronze in the 100m freestyle. His personal best time is 47.56 seconds.

"I am getting close to my personal record again and I am feeling positive about how it went down," Hwang added. "It feels good to start off the competition with this bronze and I just have to build off of this going forward."

In the weeks leading up to the Asian Games, Hwang has spoken often about his fondness for Tokyo Aquatics Centre. It was at this venue that Hwang first announced his arrival in international swimming as a teenager at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Then just 18, Hwang set an Asian record in the 100m freestyle and broke an 11-year national record in the 200m freestyle.

"It is difficult to recall exactly how I felt in the water five years ago, but I do feel much stronger now than before," he said. "I am a bit disappointed that my time today was not as good as back then but I will have many more opportunities in the future."

This was the first day of swimming at the Asiad. Hwang has the 200m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle relay coming up, among others.

"With about 25m to go, I lost a bit of steam," Hwang said. "That was a little disappointing but it also gave me something to work on ahead of my next races. I would love to keep adding to my medal collection."