'Shoulder Injury' Kim Woo-min Withdraws from Today's 800-Meter Event; Attention Turns to Tomorrow's 400-Meter Race [2026 Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya]

[Financial News] Lee Ju-ho (Seogwipo City Hall), the senior-most member and captain of South Korea's national swimming team, will bid for his first Asian Games gold medal. He will compete in the men's 200-meter backstroke at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre on the 25th.
Lee has won two silver and five bronze medals at previous Asian Games. At these Games, he added bronze medals in the 100-meter backstroke and the 400-meter medley relay, but he has yet to win a gold medal.
The 200-meter backstroke is the event he has prepared for most intensively. If he wins, he will become the first South Korean swimmer since Ji Sang-jun at the 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games to take gold in the event—a wait of 32 years. The heats will be held during the session beginning at 10 a.m. on the 25th. If he advances to the final, he will race again that afternoon.

On the same day, the 25th, attention is focused on whether South Korean swimming star Kim Woo-min (Gangwon State Office) will compete in the men's 400-meter freestyle. A triple gold medalist at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, Kim felt shoulder pain during the men's 1,500-meter freestyle final on the 22nd and finished eighth among the eight competitors. His previously undisclosed shoulder injury became known after the race, prompting concern.
After withdrawing from the 200-meter freestyle and the 400-meter relay, Kim also withdrew from the 800-meter freestyle on the 24th. However, he is preparing with the goal of competing in the 400-meter freestyle, his main event. Lee Ho-joon (Jeju City Hall), a bronze medalist in the 200-meter freestyle at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, will also compete in the event.
Meanwhile, in swimming on the 24th, Hur Yeon Kyung and Jo Hyeon-ju will compete in the women's 50-meter freestyle. Ji Yu-chan and Yang Jae-hun will race in the men's 50-meter butterfly, Park Si-eun in the women's 200-meter breaststroke, and Cho Sung-jae and Choi Dong-yeol in the men's 200-meter breaststroke. With Kim Woo-min out of the men's 800-meter freestyle, Junwoo Kim will be the only Korean swimmer in the event. Hur Yeon Kyung, Jo Hyeon-ju, Han Da-kyung and Lee Hui-eun are scheduled to compete in the women's 800-meter freestyle relay, while South Korea's national team will also compete in the men's 400-meter freestyle relay.

[email protected] Shin Jin-a Reporter