At the start of Friday at the world swimming championships in Japan, the South Korean national record in the men's 4x200-meter freestyle relay stood at 7:06.93.
By the day's end, it was 7:04.07.
The relay quartet of Hwang Sun-woo, Kim Woo-min, Yang Jae-hoon and Lee Ho-joon finished sixth among eight teams in the final at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka. It matched the highest placement by a South Korean relay team at swimming worlds, set in the 4x200m final last year in Budapest.
Also for the second straight year, South Korea broke the national record in that event twice in one day. And the members believe they haven't hit their ceiling just yet.
"We didn't exactly have fast times in our exchanges, and if we can work on it, there's plenty of room for us to go even faster," said Lee Ho-joon, the anchor who brought the team home in 1:44.53. It was the best 200m split for South Korea. "As we continue to compete against great teams, we're gaining more confidence."
They first shaved 0.11 second off the record in the heats earlier Friday, finishing sixth overall at 7:06.82 to qualify for the final. South Korea, the only Asian team in the final, took another 2.75 seconds off the previous record.
That South Korea broke the record twice Friday despite having its leadoff man and best swimmer, Hwang Sun-woo, under the weather certainly leaves room for better performances down the road.
Hwang said he wasn't close to being 100 percent for the final.
"I am thankful to be standing here with my teammates after setting the national record," Hwang said. "I didn't swim as well as I wanted because I was sick, but these guys had my back."
Hwang, Kim and Lee had all competed in individual races before Friday, while Yang came to Fukuoka only for the relay.
Hwang won the bronze medal in the 200m freestyle, while Lee finished sixth there. They were the first pair of South Korean teammates to compete in the same final at any swimming world championships.
Kim finished a career-high fifth in the 400m freestyle with his personal best time of 3:43.92. In the 800m freestyle, Kim broke an 11-year-old national record with 7:47.69, though he didn't make it past the heats.
Even before arriving in Fukuoka, the relay members talked about their growing confidence. Their individual showings here justified their self-assurance, and it resulted in two national records in a span of about nine hours.
With one major competition out of the way, the quartet will chase more glory at the next one on the horizon, the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, in September.
"We'll try to build on this positive momentum and put on a good show again at the Asian Games," Yang said.
Kim chimed in: "I am so happy to have given everything I had in this race, and hopefully we're going to become even tighter as a team in time for the Asian Games in September."
Source: Yonhap News Agency