Four months after setting his personal best time in the men's 400-meter freestyle, South Korean swimmer Kim Woo-min said Thursday he is confident he can sneak up on people and grab a surprise medal at the upcoming world championships.
Kim, 21, will be competing in the 400m, 800m and 1,500m freestyle at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, starting Sunday. The preliminary for the 400m is Sunday morning, and the final is later that evening.
At last year's world championships, Kim finished sixth in the 400m freestyle with a time of 3:45.64, becoming the first South Korean since Park Tae-hwan, a two-time world champion, to make the final in that distance. Then Kim won the national team trials in March this year in 3:45.59, which puts him in ninth place in the 2023 world rankings.
Asked before his flight Thursday if he thought he could win a medal this year, Kim said succinctly, "Yes."
"Even if it's just by 0.01 second, I'd like to improve on my time," Kim told reporters at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. "While I am at it, I'd love to shave one second off my time."
In its preview of the 400m at the worlds, U.S. swimming news website SwimSwam cited Kim as "Asia's best chance at a medal."
Kim said he wasn't sure if he deserved that level of accolades just yet but added, "It gives me the drive to work even harder so that I can compete with the best of the world."
Before the 2022 world championships, the 400m free had been the domain of Asian nations, with Park and Sun Yang of China leading the charge. Kim thinks the world championships will be a good test for the Asian Games set for September in Hangzhou, China.
"Since this is the last major international event before the Asian Games, I'll need to put on a good showing and build on that momentum," Kim said. "The 400m is on the very first day, but I have confidence in my ability to take care of my body and get ready for the competition."
Source: Yonhap News Agency