Breaking a four-year-old national record was not enough for a South Korean relay team to advance at the swimming world championships in Japan on Wednesday.
South Korea's mixed 4x100-meter medley relay team of Lee Eun-ji, Choi Dong-yeol, Kim Young-beom and Hur Yeon-kyung broke the national record by 0.83 second to finish at 3:47.09 in the heats. However, they finished 13th overall, with only the top eight teams advancing to the final scheduled for Wednesday night, back at Marine Messe Fukuoka Hall A in Fukuoka.
The previous South Korean record in the event had been set in November 2019 at a World Cup event.
In the mixed relay, four members each swim a different stroke -- in the order of backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle.
Hwang Sun-woo was the only South Korean to make it past the heats Wednesday.
Hwang tied for 12th in the heats for the men's 100-meter freestyle at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, with a time of 48.20 seconds. The top 16 advanced to the semifinals, taking place Wednesday evening.
Hwang won the bronze medal in the 200m freestyle Tuesday night and came back out early Wednesday for his last individual event.
After the 100m freestyle, Hwang will race in the men's 4x200m freestyle relay Friday.
Earlier Wednesday, Lee Eun-ji missed out on the semifinals after finishing 19th in the heats for the women's 50m backstroke with a time of 28.40 seconds. Lee ended up 0.16 second behind the 16th and final qualifier, Andrea Berrino of Argentina.
The 17-year-old had also been eliminated in the heats for the 100m backstroke Monday. At last year's world championships, she had reached the semifinals in 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke events.
In the men's 200m individual medley, Kim Min-suk finished in 25th place with a time of 2:01.75, missing the semifinals, open to the top 16.
Park Su-jin came a bit closer to making the semifinals in the women's 200m butterfly, where she finished 18th in 2:11.20. The 16th qualifier, Anja Crevar of Serbia, checked in at 2:10.98.
Source: Yonhap News Agency