Doha, Qatar, February 11, 2024: Korea’s Kim Woo-min made a flying start to the swimming competition at the World Aquatics Championships – Doha 2024 on Sunday evening with a thrilling victory in the men’s 400m freestyle final at Aspire Dome.
Kim, a three-time Asian Games gold medal-winner in Hangzhou last year, was on world record pace for much of the race but tired in the final 50 metres and had to hang on for victory.
The 22-year-old Tokyo Olympian won in 3 minutes, 42.71 seconds, 00.15 seconds ahead of the fast-finishing 2022 world champion Elijah Winnington of Australia, who took silver in 3:42.86.
Germany’s Lukas Martens also finished strongly to win bronze in 3:42.96, just 00.25 seconds behind Kim.
In the second final of the night, the women’s 400m freestyle, China’s Li Bingjie won the silver medal behind New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather, who clocked 3:59.44.
Li, 21, was well beaten in second place with a time of 4:01.62, 02.18 seconds behind, and Isabel Gose of Germany earned the bronze medal in 4:02.39, 02.95 seconds behind New Zealand’s new world champion.
Korea’s newly crowned world champion Kim said: “I worked very hard before this championship and also during this competition. The 200m was the crucial point when I started to feel my legs but I managed to keep it until the finish.
“I will continue the hard work towards the Olympic Games in Paris and I believe that I can fight for gold there. I believe I can do it.”
Kim added that he was planning a race like this, going out fast and building a big lead for the final push.
“I always try to give a fast pace and push as hard as I can from the start. In the beginning I couldn’t see where my rivals were but, in the last 50 metres, I knew they were getting really close.
“In the end I pushed with all the energy I had left and I just hoped that I would be the one to finish first.
“It is my first medal at the world championships and it is gold, so it is a very special moment for me. It’s a great start for me in Doha. My next goal is the 4x 200m relay.”
In the last race of the night, China finished first in the men’s 4 x 100m freestyle relay.
China won in 3:11.08, followed by Italy in 3:12.08, 1 second behind. The United States came in third for bronze in 3:12.29, 01.21 seconds behind the Chinese.
The four-man Chinese team was Pan Zhanle, Ji Xinjie Zhang Zhanshuo and Wang Haoyu.