The South Korean swimming team experienced mixed results at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. Yang Jae-hoon (Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province Office) advanced to the men's 50m butterfly final, while Ji Yoo-chan (Daegu Metropolitan City Office) was eliminated in the preliminaries.
On September 24, at the Tokyo Aquatics Center, Yang Jae-hoon recorded a time of 23.52 seconds in the men's 50m butterfly preliminaries, securing 4th place overall to qualify for the final.
Competing in heat 5, Yang was competitive from the start, finishing 2nd in his heat and touching the pad ahead of China's Wang Changhao (23.63 seconds).
In contrast, Ji Yoo-chan failed to qualify for the final in the same event. Competing in heat 3, he finished 4th in his heat with a time of 23.93 seconds, placing 14th overall. Despite a quick reaction time of 0.62 seconds at the start, he could not improve his position.
Earlier, Ji won a bronze medal in the men's 50m freestyle with a time of 21.94 seconds. This marked his second consecutive podium finish in this event, following a gold medal at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, but he will not be contending for additional medals in the butterfly event. The men's 50m butterfly final is scheduled for 5:05 PM today.
Heo Yeon-kyung, competing in the women's 50m freestyle, also fell short of reaching the final. She recorded a time of 25.68 seconds in heat 3, finishing 4th in her heat and 11th overall, just 0.04 seconds shy of qualifying for the final.
Park Si-eun, competing in the women's 200m breaststroke, advanced to the final with a time of 2:26.57, placing 2nd overall in the preliminaries.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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