Backstrokers Yoon Jihwan and Kim Seungwon Advance to Finals After Placing Second Overall in Men's and Women's 50m Preliminaries

Yoon Jihwan and Kim Seungwon, who have rapidly emerged as Korea’s leading short-distance backstroke swimmers for both men and women, advanced to the finals by placing second overall in the men’s and women’s 50m backstroke preliminaries at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

Yoon Jihwan, the Korean record holder in the men’s 50m backstroke, finished second in his heat in the men’s 50m backstroke preliminary Group 3 at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held on September 21 at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, with a time of 24.74 seconds. He was 0.10 seconds behind China’s Xu Jiayu, who holds the Asian record in both the men’s 50m and 100m backstroke events.

Yoon Jihwan is swimming backstroke in the men's 100m backstroke heats at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held on the 20th at the Tokyo Aquatics Center. Photo by Yonhap News

Among the 29 competitors, Yoon Jihwan ranked second overall and secured a spot in the finals. China’s Wang Zicheng clocked 24.80 seconds, which was 0.06 seconds slower than Yoon Jihwan, and placed third overall.

Lee Juho, the Korean record holder in the men’s 100m backstroke, finished in 12th place overall with a time of 25.61 seconds and narrowly missed advancing to the finals. The day before, Lee had earned his third consecutive Asian Games bronze medal in the 100m event.

Kim Seungwon, the Korean record holder in the women’s 50m backstroke, was the fastest in her heat in the women’s 50m backstroke preliminary Group 2, touching the pad at 27.91 seconds. Among the 31 competitors, she ranked second overall and advanced to the finals. China’s Wan Letian ranked first overall with 27.66 seconds, and Wang Xue’er was third with 28.15 seconds.

Lee Eunji, the Korean record holder in the women’s 100m backstroke, finished ninth overall with a time of 28.55 seconds and advanced to the finals, where the top ten swimmers compete.

Yoon Jihwan, born in 2006, and Kim Seungwon, born in 2010, are regarded as the next generation of Korean backstroke hopefuls.

The 50m backstroke finals will be held from 5 p.m. on the same day. The men’s final will be held first, followed by the women’s final.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.