S. Korea finishes 6th in men’s freestyle swimming relay
South Korea finished sixth in its first-ever final of an Olympic swimming relay race on Tuesday, unable to overcome an early gap.
The team of Yang Jae-hoon, Lee Ho-joon, Kim Woo-min and Hwang Sun-woo posted a time of 7:07.26 in the men’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay final at Paris La Defense Arena in Nanterre, just west of the French capital.
This was South Korea’s first appearance in any Olympic swimming relay final. The four swimmers hoped to make even more history by reaching the podium.
However, South Korea ranked last among nine finalists after Yang’s leadoff 한국을split of 1:49.84. Hwang, as the anchor, dragged the team out of the cellar over the final stretch for a more respectable finish.
The same four swimmers set a national record and an Asian record time of 7:01.73 in winning the gold medal at last year’s Asian Games, but they were nearly six seconds off less than a year later.
Lee covered the second leg in a solid, but not spectacular, 1:46:45, and South Korea remained in ninth place. Kim, the 400m freestyle bronze medalist from Saturday, had the best split on the team with 1:44.98, but it could only push South Korea up a spot to eighth.