Choi Dong-yeol, 3rd Place in Men’s 100m Breaststroke
[Asian Games] Choi Dong-yeol, 3rd Place in Men’s 100m Breaststroke… Korea Wins Medal for First Time in 61 Years
Won the bronze medal with 59.28 seconds, breaking his own Korean record.
Choi Dong-yeol (24, Gangwon Provincial Office) won a medal in the men"s 100m breaststroke at the Asian Games, becoming the first Korean athlete in 61 years.
Choi Dong-yeol took third place, setting a new Korean record of 59.28 seconds in the men"s 100m breaststroke final at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games Swimming Management held at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center swimming pool in Zhejiang, China, on the 25th.
Choi Dong-yeol, who beat his previous Korean record of 59.59 seconds at the Fukuoka World Championships last July by 0.31 seconds, also won his first Asian Games medal.
This is the first time a Korean athlete has reached the podium in this event at the Asian Games in 61 years since Jin Jang-rim, who took third place at the 1962 Jakarta Games.
Choi Dong-yeol ranked second overall in the preliminaries with a time of 59.90 seconds.
The first place in this event"s preliminary round was Qin Haiyang (24, China), four-time winner of the 2023 World Championships.
Qin Haiyang took first place, setting a new competition record of 58.35 seconds (previously 58.86 seconds).
In the finals, Qin Haiyang ran an unrivaled race.
Qin Haiyang won the race, breaking the competition record again with a time of 57.76 seconds.
Choi Dong-yeol had a fierce battle with Yan Zibei (28, China) for second place.
Yan Zibei ranked second with a time of 59.09 seconds, 0.19 seconds ahead of Choi Dong-yeol.
Cho Sung-jae (22, Goyang City Hall) took fourth place with a time of 1 minute 00.88 seconds.
Choi Dong-yeol , whom we met after the game, said, “Until a few years ago, participating in an international competition was like a dream, but I can’t believe I was able to get on the podium like this.”
He added, “I took 3rd place this time, so there’s still room for me to move up to 2nd and 1st.”
“If you fill it up, you will be able to stand at the highest point someday,” he said.
The Korea Swimming Federation sent the backstroke and breaststroke national teams to Australia last May.
Choi Dong-yeol, along with Seong-jae Cho and Lee Joo-ho, received a "4-week special training" in Australia.
Choi Dong-yeol also explained the "special training effect" by saying, "Korea also has a good training environment, but Australia has a deep history of swimming, so there was a lot to learn.
Since I was selected and selected for the special training list, I also felt a sense of responsibility."
On this day, Korean swimming won two gold medals in the men"s 800m relay (Hwang Sun-woo, Lee Ho-jun, Kim Woo-min, Yang Jae-hoon) and the men"s 50m freestyle (Ji Yu-chan), and two bronze medals in the women"s 200m individual medley and men"s 100m butterfly.
Choi Dong-yeol, who was named on the glorious list of medalists, said, "Seeing freestyle swimmers, including Sun-woo Hwang, working hard and doing well gave other athletes a good motivation," and added, "I also gained strength thanks to my colleagues who showed me that Korean swimming is also possible.
“He expressed his camaraderie.