[Nagoya AG] "Yachting Legend" Jimin Ha Wins Fourth Career Gold Medal

First Place in Men's Dinghy Finals
Proving His Dominance by Reclaiming the Title
Holliday Takes Silver, Afendy Wins Bronze

Jimin Ha, known as the "living legend" of Korean yachting and a member of the Haeundae District Office team, demonstrated his dominance as the strongest in Asia.

On October 2, at the Gamagori Kaiyo Yacht Harbor in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, Ha secured the gold medal in the men's Dinghy finals at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games with a total of 9 points. This marked his fourth career gold medal at the Asian Games, achieved in his fifth appearance at the event.

At the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games held in 2023, Ha settled for a silver medal due to unpredictable natural conditions. However, by reclaiming the top spot at this Nagoya Games, he once again proved his enduring strength.

Haji Min is giving a thumbs-up greeting before the men's dinghy single race at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held on the 2nd at Gamagori Kaiyo Yacht Harbor in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Gamagori=Photo by Yonhap News Agency

The Dinghy event consists of nine opening series races, which act as qualifiers. Penalty points are assigned based on rank (1 point for 1st, 2 points for 2nd, and so on). The ten athletes with the lowest cumulative points advance to the finals, where the medals are decided over two more races. Considering the unpredictable nature of the sport, such as shifting sea conditions, each sailor is allowed to exclude their worst penalty score from the nine preliminary races before the final total is calculated.

Ha incurred a painful 19-point penalty after being disqualified from the first preliminary race, in which he finished third, due to a successful protest claiming he obstructed another competitor’s course. As a result, he exhausted his only "discard" opportunity in the very first race.

However, his veteran expertise truly shone under pressure. Ha dominated the subsequent races, recording three first-place finishes and quickly pulling ahead of his rivals to finish at the top of the qualifiers.

In the all-important final races, Ha allowed no surprise upsets. Taking advantage of the first-place qualifier premium, he started the finals with a clean slate (zero penalty points). He then fended off a late challenge from second-placed Nicholas Bezy Holliday of Hong Kong, who carried 7 penalty points from the preliminaries, maintaining his lead by a margin of 2 points to claim the championship. Third place went to Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy of Malaysia, who finished with 14 points.

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