17-Year-Old Hwang Seo-hyun Wins Surprise Asian Games Gold, Ends 40-Year Wait on Balance Beam

[Financial News] South Korean artistic gymnastics prospect Hwang Seo-hyun, 17, of Incheon Physical Education High School, won the women's balance beam gold medal at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. It was South Korea's first women's balance beam gold medal at the Asian Games in 40 years. Hwang scored 14.700 points in the women's balance beam final at the Nagoya City General Gymnasium Rainbow Hall in Nagoya, Japan, on the 25th. She finished 0.134 points ahead of China's Qiu Qiyuan, who scored 14.566. Japan's Mana Okamura took the bronze with 14.300 points.
Hwang, the seventh of eight finalists to compete, completed a triple turn on one foot and several high-difficulty aerial skills without major errors. Although one foot slipped backward on her final landing, she regained her balance and posted the highest difficulty score among all competitors at 6.6 points.
South Korean gymnastics had last won medals in the women's balance beam at the 1986 Seoul Games, when Seo Seon-aeng took gold and Han Kyung-im won bronze. It was the country's first medal in the event at the Asian Games in 40 years.
Listed at 133.8 centimeters in her official profile, Hwang attracted attention last year by winning gold in the balance beam at the Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships, her first senior international competition. At these Games, she competed only in the balance beam and captured the gold medal.
South Korean artistic gymnastics won gold medals on consecutive days, following Yeo Seo-jeong of Jecheon City Hall's victory in the women's vault the previous day.
[email protected] Choi Seung-han Reporter