[Nagoya AG] Hwang Sunwoo Takes Silver in 200m Freestyle... 16-Year-Old Kim Seungwon Wins Bronze in Women’s 100m Backstroke

Hwang Sunwoo Denied Back-to-Back Titles by China’s Zhang Zhanshuo

Kim Seungwon Wins Second Individual Bronze After 50m Backstroke

An Sehyeon Misses Butterfly Medal by 0.04 Seconds

Hwang Sunwoo narrowly missed claiming back-to-back titles in the men’s 200m freestyle at the Asian Games.

On September 23rd, Hwang won the silver medal in the men’s 200m freestyle final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, held at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, finishing with a time of 1:44.62. China’s Zhang Zhanshuo took the gold with an Asian record time of 1:43.49.

Hwang Sunwoo is swimming backstroke in the men's 200m freestyle preliminaries at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at the Tokyo Aquatics Center on the 23rd. Photo by Yonhap News.

Hwang surged to the lead from the very beginning and maintained his position through the 150-meter mark, but could not hold off Zhang Zhanshuo's powerful late surge in the final 50 meters.

Zhang Zhanshuo was trailing in third place at both the 50-meter and 100-meter marks, passing those splits 0.43 seconds and 0.53 seconds behind Hwang, respectively. However, by the 150-meter mark, he had closed the gap to just 0.19 seconds and moved up to second place, ultimately overtaking Hwang in the final 50 meters to secure the win. Japan’s Tatsuya Murasawa, who had held second through the 100-meter mark, took the bronze medal with a time of 1:44.81.

At the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, held in 2023, Hwang claimed gold in this event with a time of 1:44.40, a Korean national record and at the time, an Asian Games record. Last year, he broke the Asian record with a 1:43.92, but at this competition, he had to settle for silver and was unable to defend his title. Zhang Zhanshuo surpassed Hwang’s Asian record by 0.43 seconds.

In the women’s 100m backstroke, held earlier, 16-year-old rising star Kim Seungwon picked up her second individual bronze medal of this competition, following her bronze in the 50m backstroke.

Seungwon Kim is smiling brightly holding the bronze medal at the awards ceremony for the women's 100m individual backstroke swimming event at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held on the 23rd at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. Photo by Yonhap News

Kim touched third at 1:00.10, behind China’s Feng Xuewei (59.30) and Japan’s Rio Shirai (59.89). She led the first 50 meters at 28.60 but was overtaken by Feng and Shirai in the second half.

Fellow competitor Lee Eunji finished in fifth place with a time of 1:00.51.

In the women’s 100m butterfly, An Sehyeon narrowly missed out on a medal, touching at 58.09—just 0.04 seconds behind bronze medalist Gan Cheoktung Natalie (58.05).

In the men’s 100m butterfly, Yang Jaehun finished fifth with 51.83, and Kim Jihoon was ninth at 52.41. In the women’s 100m breaststroke, Park Sieun placed fifth with a time of 1:07.63.

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