"A Reward After Four Attempts"—Choe Byeong-kwang Wins Bronze in the Asian Games Half-Marathon Race Walk [Nagoya AG]

[Financial News] Choe Byeong-kwang, 35, of South Korea's national athletics team and Samsung Electronics, won a bronze medal in the half-marathon race walk at the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya, giving South Korea's athletics team its first medal of the Games.
Choe Byeong-kwang finished third in the men's half-marathon race walk held on a road course in Nagoya, Japan, on the 23rd, clocking 1:28:35. He crossed the finish line behind China's Shengzhi Shi, who won in 1:23:32, and Japan's Toshikazu Yamanishi, who recorded 1:28:01.
This was South Korean athletics' first medal of the Games. It was also the first Asian Games medal won by a South Korean race walker in eight years, since Joo Hyun-myung's bronze at the 2018 Jakarta–Palembang Asian Games.
Choe Byeong-kwang, who had made four consecutive Asian Games appearances since Asian Games Incheon 2014, earned the first medal of his career at what was effectively his final stage. Although he was not considered a leading medal contender before the Games, he ultimately claimed a medal with his trademark experience and race management.
After the race, Choe Byeong-kwang said through the KAAF, "I felt happy and delighted, yet was also overwhelmed with emotion, to win a medal at the Asian Games that I thought might be my last. I did not pay attention to the negative assessments around me and quietly focused only on my race."
He added, "I am grateful to Samsung Electronics and the KAAF for their wholehearted support, which enabled me to challenge myself on the world stage. I want to be remembered as an athlete who gave everything until the day I retire. I hope my juniors will continue to take on challenges to the very end and achieve even better results."
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