Woomin Kim Fails to Medal in 1500m Freestyle... Junwoo Kim Finishes 5th

Woomin Kim failed to win a medal in the men's 1500m freestyle at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

On the 22nd, at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Japan, Woomin Kim finished 8th in the men's 1500m freestyle with a time of 15:16.52. He was among the leaders in the early stages of the race, but his pace dropped sharply after the 600m mark and he fell behind in the rankings.

Woomin Kim is seen expressing disappointment after checking the results in the men's 1500m freestyle swimming final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held on the 22nd at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

The early flow was not bad. Woomin Kim was the first to finish the 100m section in 54.62 seconds and stayed in 2nd place until the 400m mark. He passed the 600m mark in 3rd, but his speed dropped noticeably after that, and he fell to last place from 800m onward.

His teammate Junwoo Kim finished 5th with a time of 14:57.13.

The gold medal went to China's Zhang Zanshuo, who was the first to touch the pad with a time of 14:42.42. Zhang Zanshuo, who also swam the anchor leg for China's men's 800m freestyle relay on the previous day and led the team to gold over Japan, collected his second gold medal of this competition.

Japan's Kaito Tabuchi won the silver medal with a time of 14:45.99, while Kazushi Imafuku took bronze with 14:54.37.

Woomin Kim will again hunt for gold in his main events, the 400m and 800m freestyle.

At the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, Woomin Kim achieved a triple crown with gold medals in the men's 400m and 800m freestyle, and the 800m freestyle relay. He won silver in the 1500m freestyle at that time.

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