Korean athletics wrapped up the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games with three bronze medals. On the final day of competition, September 29, the team did not add any medals, finishing without gold or silver.
Kim Tae-hee (Iksan City Hall) placed ninth in the women's hammer throw final at the Mizuho Park athletics stadium in Nagoya, Japan, with a throw of 61.48 meters.
Kim previously made history by winning Korea's first Asian Games medal in hammer throw at the Hangzhou Games. However, she did not reach the podium this time. Her teammate Lee Ra (Ulsan City Hall) finished last in the same event with a throw of 57.19 meters.
The gold medal in hammer throw went to Zhang Zhen (China), who set a new Asian record with a throw of 78.27 meters. The silver medal was claimed by Zhao Jie (China) with a throw of 74.83 meters, while the bronze went to MacArthur Joy Iris (Japan) with a throw of 68.42 meters.
In the men's 5000m, Park Jae-woo (Yeongcheon City Hall) finished in 10th place with a time of 14:09.69.
The men's 4x1600m relay team, consisting of Jang Min-ho (Anyang City Hall), Shin Min-kyu (Seoul City Hall), Bae Geon-yul (Anyang City Hall), and Seo Min-jun (Seocheon County Hall), recorded a time of 3:06.59, placing sixth among eight teams. The host nation, Japan, won gold with a time of 3:00.75, followed by Qatar with silver at 3:00.93, and India with bronze at 3:01.61.
With the conclusion of the athletics events, Korea secured only three bronze medals across 50 disciplines. Choi Byeong-kwang (Samsung Electronics) earned a bronze in the men's half marathon race walk on September 23 with a time of 1:28:35. Woo Sang-hyeok (Yongin City Hall) won bronze in the men's high jump final on September 27, clearing 2.22 meters.
The men's relay team, consisting of Seo Min-jun (Seocheon County Hall), Namadi Joel Jin (Yecheon County Hall), Lee Jae-sung (Jeonnam Gwangju City Hall), and Biwesa Daniel Gasama (Ansan City Hall), set a new Korean record of 38.43 seconds in the men's 400m relay final on September 28, earning a bronze medal. There was initial confusion when the organizing committee mistakenly awarded the bronze to Thailand, which finished fourth, but this was corrected after protests.
Excluding the 1951 New Delhi Games, where Korea did not send a team, and the 1962 Jakarta Games, where some events were boycotted, Korean athletics has historically secured at least one silver medal at every Asian Games. The previous lowest performance was in the 1978 Bangkok Games, where Korea won one silver and one bronze.
Despite the disappointing results, there were signs of potential in the men's sprints, with Joel Jin and Biwesa finishing fourth and fifth, respectively, in the men's 100m final, coming close to the top ranks in Asia.
China topped the athletics medal table with 17 gold medals, followed by Japan and Bahrain with 10 and 9 golds, respectively. Thailand and Uzbekistan each secured three gold medals, led by rising sprint star Puripol Boonson.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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