As they enjoy individual success at the world swimming championships in Japan, South Korean swimmers' drive for a collective goal seems to be picking up speed.
Hwang Sun-woo, Lee Ho-joon and Kim Woo-min, three male freestyle swimmers, will join forces for the men's 4x200-meter freestyle relay Friday at the World Aquatics Championships in the port city of Fukuoka. And they have been able to use their individual events to build confidence for the team event -- not that they had lacked confidence beforehand.
These three, plus Lee Yoo-yeon, combined to set a national record in the 4x200m relay with 7:06.93 while finishing sixth at last year's world championships in Budapest. In the buildup to this year's competition, they have talked the big talk, saying their individual 200m times, when combined, would be good enough for a medal in Fukuoka.
Kim, Hwang and Lee have been trying to live up to their own hype.
Kim made it to his second consecutive 400m freestyle final Sunday and finished a career-high fifth with a new personal best time of 3:43.92. Kim broke his personal record twice on that day alone -- first in the heats and then in the final -- and ended up shaving more than a second off the mark.
Kim had the 800m and 1,500m freestyle races left, but his mind had already shifted toward the relay race.
"Obviously, I will do my best in the 800m and 1,500m, but more than anything, I really want to do well in the relay," Kim said. "I am looking forward to having a great race with my teammates."
Hwang and Lee made South Korean swimming history Monday night, as they reached the 200m freestyle final together. They are the first pair of South Korean teammates to compete in the same final of a swimming event at the world championships.
"With Ho-joon in 1:45 territory and Woo-min doing so well in the 400m, I think our relay team is shaping up really nicely," said Hwang, the reigning 200m silver medalist.
Lee chimed in: "My primary goal here was to reach the final in an individual race. I believe this will clearly have a really positive effect on our relay race."
Kim gave the South Korean team even more cause for optimism Tuesday, when he broke an 11-year-old national record in the 800m freestyle. Kim clocked in at 7:47.69 in the heats, erasing the previous mark of 7:49.93 held by Park Tae-hwan at the 2012 London Olympics.
Kim said he watched the 200m semifinals from the stands Monday night, cheering on Hwang and Lee.
"I was probably more nervous than those guys," Kim said with a smile. "It was great to see both of them do so well, and it gives me motivation to keep working hard too. I think these performances have brought us closer."
In the 4x200m relay, each swimmer covers 200m. And Kim thinks having two members compete for a medal in the 200m freestyle should give the relay team even more confidence.
"We have two finalists in the 200m freestyle, so we can just go out there and have fun in the relay," Kim said. "If we can trust each other and do our best, I think good results will follow."
Source: Yonhap News Agency