Hwang Sun-woo (C) and Lee Ho-joon (R) celebrate on the podium after winning the men's 200m freestyle at the Asian Games at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center in Hangzhou, China, on Sunday. It is the first time in 21 years that two athletes have won the same event at the Asian Games since Cho Sung-mo won silver and Han Kyu-chul won bronze in the men's 1500-meter freestyle at the 2002 Busan Games.
Hwang Sun-woo (20) and Lee Ho-joon (22), the mainstays of the "golden generation," have won medals together in swimming at the Asian Games for the first time in 21 years.
Hwang Sun-woo won the men's 200m freestyle final at the Asian Games on Sunday at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center in Hangzhou, China, with a time of 1:44.40, breaking the meet record and his own Korean record (previously 1:44.42). Lee took home the bronze medal in 1:45.56. Lee's time was 0.14 seconds better than his personal best (1:45.70), which he set at the national team trials in March of this year. China's Fan Zhanle (19) won the silver medal with a time of 1:45.28.
It has been 13 years since a Korean has won gold in the men's 200m freestyle at an Asian Games since Park Tae-hwan (34) in Guangzhou 2010. It has been 21 years since South Korea's Cho Sung-mo won silver and Han Kyu-cheol bronze in the men's 1500m freestyle at the 2002 Busan Games.
Hwang finished first overall in the morning heats with a time of 1:47.08, earning him a lane four spot in the final. Lee Ho-joon, who finished third in his heat with a time of 1:48.13, will swim next to Hwang in lane three. At the previous World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, in July, Hwang and Lee were the only Asian swimmers to make the final.
As the top-ranked Asians in the event, they led the early race. After 150 meters, Hwang was in first place and Lee was in second. However, in the final 50 meters, Hwang made a spurt and Lee faded in the closing stages, allowing Pan to take second place.
Hwang collected a medal of every color at his first Asian Games, winning bronze in the 100m freestyle on Thursday and silver in the 400m medley relay on Saturday. It was also his first individual title at the Games. Lee Ho-joon, who won gold in the 800-meter freestyle relay, also claimed his first individual medal.
After the race, Hwang Sun-woo said, "It feels great to be on the top of the podium with a personal record in the 200m freestyle. I'm also happy that Hojun's brother also got a good result with a bronze medal, so I feel like the Korean team has improved a lot. It's nice to finish the individual events with a good result." "My biggest goal was to break my personal record, and I achieved it. I'm very happy that I pushed my limits again," said Lee.
Hwang Sun-woo (bottom) and Lee Ho-joon (top) celebrate after securing first and third place respectively in the men's 200m freestyle swimming at the Asian Games at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center in Hangzhou, China, on Sunday.
Hwang Sun-woo, who said after the 400-meter medley relay on Saturday that he was "determined to compete in all the team events," swam the freestyle leg of the 400-meter medley relay about an hour after finishing the 200-meter freestyle race to help South Korea win bronze in the final 100 meters.
The medley relay consists of backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle. In mixed events, two male and two female swimmers compete in each stroke. South Korea's medal haul included all of its top male and female swimmers, including Lee Eun-ji (17) in the backstroke, Choi Dong-yeol (24) in the breaststroke and Kim Seo-young (29) in the butterfly.
Two-time Asian Games champion Hwang Sun-woo's quest for a triple was not over. She will go for gold in the 400-meter medley relay on Monday. This will be her last event at the Games. He will be joined by Lee Ho-joon and men's 50m freestyle gold medalist Ji Yoo-chan, 21. 19가이드03