South Korean Kim Seo-yeong reached the semifinals of the women's 200-meter individual medley at the world championships here on Sunday, moving a step closer to her fourth consecutive final appearance.
With her season-best time of 2:11.50, Kim finished 14th in the heats at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. The top 16 from the heats will compete in the semifinals scheduled for Sunday evening at Marine Messe Fukuoka Hall A.
From the semifinals, the top eight swimmers will qualify for Monday's final.
Kim is the only South Korean swimmer to have competed in three straight world championships finals in any event, having done so in 2017, 2019 and 2022. The 29-year-old is captain of the South Korean swimming team here.
"My primary goal this morning was to reach the semifinals," Kim told Yonhap News Agency after her race. "I think I will be in much better form this evening than in the morning, so I am looking forward to that."
Kate Douglas of the United States won the heats in 2:09.17.
Kim owns the national record time of 2:08.34, set while winning the 2018 Asian Games gold medal. She has said her goal in Fukuoka is to get into the 2:10 territory.
In the 200m individual medley, swimmers start off with the butterfly for the first 50m, followed by 50m each of backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle.
Source: Yonhap News Agency