Hwang Sun-woo to compete in World Championships: “Good results will follow if I reduce my time”
South Korean swimming sensation Hwang Sun-woo, 20, of Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province, has set his sights on medals in the 200-meter freestyle and 800-meter freestyle relay and a spot in the 100-meter freestyle final at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships.
The Korean Swimming Management Team, led by Hwang Sun-woo, departed for Japan via Incheon International Airport on Tuesday to compete at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka.
Hwang is the athlete who has attracted the most attention. He won a silver medal in the 200m freestyle at last year’s World Championships in Budapest with a time of 1:44.47, making it 11 years since Park Tae-hwan (retired) won the gold medal in Shanghai in 2011.
Now, Hwang will look to build on his confidence and become the first Korean swimmer in history to finish on the podium at back-to-back World Championships in his main event, the 200m freestyle. He also has his sights set on medals in the 100-meter freestyle and 800-meter freestyle relay.
“First of all, I’m focusing on breaking my personal bests in the 100m and 200m freestyle,” Hwang said.
“In the 100-meter freestyle, my best time is 47.05 seconds, which I recorded at the Tokyo Olympics two years ago, and I hope to break it at the World Championships or Asian Games. In the 200-meter freestyle, I need to reach 1:43 to win a medal. I want to reach that time and get on the podium no matter what,” he said.
The 200-meter freestyle is an event in which Hwang is confident, with some saying he’s booked a podium finish, but the field has been stacked lately.
David Popovic (ROM), who beat Hwang at the Budapest Championships in June last year, will be looking for gold, as will Pan Zhanle (CHN) and Matsumoto (JPN), both of whom have recently improved.
“Popovic has a tremendous record,” said Hwang, “so I don’t feel overwhelmed because I’m just following him. I’m just trying to reduce my own record and good results will follow,” he said. “He’s got a similar record to me. It gave me a chance to focus more,” he said, adding that he used it as inspiration to improve.
Hwang also showed confidence in the 800-meter freestyle relay with Kim Woo-min, Lee Ho-joon and Yang Jae-hoon. “They were so confident that it was a problem,” said head coach Lee Jung-hoon.
Hwang Sun-woo said, “Their records are good and their morale is up. “If we simply add up the records of the four swimmers, we will be in fourth or fifth place, but if we work well together on the day of the competition, we can aim for a medal,” said Hwang. When asked what he would like to achieve more, a gold medal in the 200m freestyle or a bronze medal in the 800m freestyle relay, he was adamant: “I want to win both.”
Finally, on the 100-meter freestyle, he said, “My world ranking in this event is currently ninth. If I make it to the final (of up to eight), I’ll be able to compete without any pressure, so I think I’ll have a good result.”
Meanwhile, Hwang will compete in the 200m freestyle heats and semifinals on Thursday, the 200m freestyle final on Friday, the 100m freestyle heats and semifinals on Saturday and the 100m freestyle final on Sunday.
On the 28th, 카지노사이트 he and his teammates will compete in the 800-meter freestyle relay preliminaries and finals.
