Imad Zaben reaches 50m freestyle final at Asian Games
Imad Zaben becomes the first Saudi swimmer to reach an Asian Games final after clocking 22.24 seconds in the 50m freestyle heats.
TOKYO — Kim Young-beom shattered a three-year-old Asian Games record in the men's 50-meter freestyle swimming event on Monday. The South Korean athlete claimed victory in the heats for the men's shortest freestyle race, clocking a time of 21.71 seconds at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. This performance surpassed the previous record set by fellow South Korean Ji Yu-chan by a mere 0.01 second.
Ji, who had claimed the gold medal in the 100m freestyle at the 2023 Asian Games, finished the heats in 22.23 seconds, securing third place overall.
The event took place at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, which is the primary venue for all swimming competitions during the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. Kim's achievement is particularly impressive considering that records are rarely broken during the heats in swimming, as athletes tend to conserve energy for the finals scheduled later in the day.
Kim, who had previously won silver in the 100m freestyle on Sunday, expressed his satisfaction with the result. Upon seeing his time displayed on the scoreboard, the 20-year-old remarked that the hard work he had put in clearly paid off. He emphasized the importance of staying focused throughout the race, particularly in the latter half where he had to maintain his momentum without overestimating his performance.
Kim acknowledged that breaking records during heats is uncommon, as swimmers typically reserve their best efforts for the finals.
Written by urgent.news from The Korea Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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