Korean Relay Gained Confidence
Korean Relay Gained Confidence… Is it Possible to Achieve a ‘Gold+World Record’ in Paris?
Coach Lee Jeong-hoon said, “According to the data, I can easily fit into the 6-minute division.”
The men’s 800m relay world record is 6 minutes 58.55 seconds by the United States in 2009.
At the 2024 International Aquatics Federation World Championships in Doha, Qatar, Korean swimming won a medal in the management team event for the first time in history.
Yang Jae-hoon (25), Kim Woo-min (22, Gangwon Provincial Office), Lee Ho-jun (23, Jeju City Hall), and Hwang Seon-woo (20, Gangwon Provincial Office) took the silver medal in the men"s 800m relay final with a time of 7 minutes 01.94 seconds.
The Korean Swimming Federation"s choice to select men"s relay as a strategic medal event for the 2024 Paris Olympics and to send training to Australia three times from 2022 to this year has borne fruit.
The Korean management team, which returned to Korea through Incheon International Airport on the 19th, expressed great satisfaction with the relay medal and pledged to do well at the Paris Olympics.
He was not satisfied with simply getting on the podium, but even showed confidence that he would carefully rewrite swimming history.
Lee Jeong-hoon, head coach of the national swimming team, said at a press conference upon his return to Korea, "According to the data, I can easily get into the 6th minute. The 6th minute record is not far away.
I think I will definitely be in the 6th minute at the Olympics."
The best record in the men"s 800m relay set by Korean swimming is 7 minutes 01.73 seconds when it won the gold medal in the finals of the Hangzhou Asian Games last year.
It is a new Korean record and also a new Asian record.
If you enter the "dream 6th squad", the Olympic podium is a distant possibility.
In the men"s 800m relay at the previous Summer Olympics, the 6-minute mark was recorded a total of three times.
At the 2008 Beijing Games, the United States set an Olympic record of 6:58.56, and at the 2012 London Games, the United States did it again with 6:59.70.
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics held in 2021, Great Britain was the first to touch the touchpad with a time of 6 minutes 58.58 seconds.
All of them stood atop the Olympic podium.
Making the 600m relay squad means winning an Olympic gold medal.
The reason why Director Lee is confident about the 6th squad is the performance of Hwang Sun-woo.
Sunwoo Hwang was the last swimmer in the 800m relay at the Doha Games and won a silver medal for Korea with an explosive race of 1 minute 43.76 seconds.
It was the fastest 200m section record among all athletes participating in the finals at the time, and Hwang Sun-woo also recorded a 200m section record of 1 minute and 43 seconds in relay for the first time.
Coach Lee said, "Hwang Sun-woo has a record of 1 minute and 43 seconds, and Kim Woo-min can easily reach that record.
Lee Ho-jun also recorded a time of 1 minute and 44 seconds at the Fukuoka Games, and he is a player who can be expected to reach the 1 minute and 43 seconds." explained.
He went on to say, "We"ve got three players who can get 1 minute and 43 invites."
The key is the one remaining seat.
Although Hwang Sun-woo, Kim Woo-min, and Lee Ho-jun have solidified their positions, the remaining spot to complete the 800m relay team is a concern.
In this Doha competition, Yang Jae-hoon and Lee Yu-yeon (23, Goyang City Hall) were used alternately.
The preliminaries were held by Lee Yu-yeon, who placed 4th in the 200m freestyle at the national team qualifiers in November last year, and the finals were held by Yang Jae-hoon.
However, Yang Jae-hoon appeared as the number one swimmer in the finals of the Doha competition and performed poorly with a time of 1 minute 47.78 seconds.
Last year, at the Hangzhou Asian Games, she competed as the number one swimmer and achieved a respectable record of 1 minute 46.83 seconds, which was almost 1 second behind.
Regarding this, Coach Lee said, "Yang Jae-hoon performed really well when he played as number 1 in the Asian Games, so he was sent as number 1 in this competition as well, but perhaps because he was nervous, he struggled. Another
reason is that his condition was not perfect as it was right after the training camp in Australia ended. “He explained.
If Hwang Seon-woo, Kim Woo-min, and Lee Ho-jun break into the 1:43 second mark as Coach Lee expects, and the team"s fourth-ranked player Youngja steadily records a time of 1:46, it is worth aiming for a new world record.