Kim YoungBeom Sprints to a 'New Record' in the 50-Meter Freestyle, Advances to Final as Overall Leader [20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya]
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- 2026-09-21 11:23:51
- Updated
- 2026-09-21 11:23:51
Kim YoungBeom finished in 21.71 seconds in Heat 4 of the men's 50-meter freestyle preliminaries at the Asian Games swimming competition held at the Tokyo Aquatics Center in Japan on the 21st. He broke the 21.72-second Asian Games record set by Ji Yu-chan of the Daegu City Government at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.
Kim YoungBeom, who won silver in the 100-meter freestyle the previous day, ranked first overall in the preliminaries and moved one step closer to the gold medal.
Ji Yu-chan finished first in his heat with a time of 22.23 seconds in Heat 3 of the preliminaries on the same day. He ranked third overall, meaning the two swimmers will compete against each other in the final. The final will be held at 5:12 p.m. that evening.
Seungwon Kim, who competed in the women's 50-meter backstroke preliminaries, also secured a place in the final. She finished in 27.91 seconds in Lane 4 of Heat 2. Ranking first in her heat and second overall in the preliminaries, she will compete for a medal in the final.
Lee Eun-ji also advanced to the final after finishing in 28.55 seconds in Lane 3 of the preliminaries, ranking ninth overall.
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