Sung Seung-min of Korea National Sport University secured the first gold medal for the South Korean team at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.
On September 20, at the Anjo Sports Park in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, Sung won the women's modern pentathlon final with a total score of 1,492 points, which included fencing, obstacle course, swimming, and laser run.
This marks the first gold medal for the South Korean team in this tournament.
Additionally, Sung made history by becoming the first Asian athlete to win a bronze medal in the women's individual event at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and now she has achieved the first gold medal for South Korean women in modern pentathlon at the Asian Games.
Previously, South Korea's best results in individual events at the Asian Games were silver medals won by Yang Soo-jin in 2014, Kim Se-hee in 2018, and Kim Sun-woo in the 2022 Hangzhou Games.
Sung started strong in fencing, scoring 250 points to take the overall lead. In the subsequent obstacle course, she recorded a time of 29.26 seconds, earning 358 points and placing fourth. She added 295 points with a seventh-place finish in swimming, bringing her total to 903 points and leading the competition.
In the final laser run, Sung was the first to start, based on her accumulated score. The laser run format allows the top scorer to start first, with subsequent competitors beginning at intervals of one second for each point behind.
Sung hit all five shots in her first shooting round, maintaining her lead against strong competition from Chinese athletes. She managed to keep a gap of 30 to 40 seconds from the second group, crossing the finish line first.
Sung also contributed to the South Korean team winning a silver medal in the team event. The team event scores are based on the combined points of the top three individual competitors from each country. Sung, along with Kim Eun-joo (Gangwon Provincial Sports Council, 1,399 points, 7th place individually) and Shin Soo-min (LH, 1,380 points, 12th place individually), helped South Korea secure second place behind China.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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