Kim Woo -min (23, Gangwon Provincial Office) won the bronze medal in the men’s freestyle 400m in the World Swimming Championship. Last year, the Doha World Swimming Championships have won the gold medal in two consecutive tournaments.
Kim Woo -min won the bronze medal with a record of 3:42 seconds 60 in the 2025 World Swimming Championship Management Men’s Freedom 400m Final in Singapore on the 27th.
Germany’s Lucas Mertens, the 2024 Paris Olympic gold medalist and a world record (3:39 seconds 96), won 3:42 seconds 35, and Australia’s Samuel Short won the silver medal with 3:42:37. Kim Woo -min led the lead in 0.25 seconds, but beat Sweden’s Victor Johansson (3:44 seconds 68) for more than two seconds.
Kim Woo -min won the free 400m freestyle in Doha Qatar last February and won the gold medal at the 400m World Championships after Park Tae -hwan (2007, 2009). This time, two consecutive games were not achieved, but they showed the strength of winning two consecutive times.
Kim Woo -min advanced to third place in the qualifiers on the day, and in the finals, he started with a quick reaction of 0.61 seconds in Lain 3. In the first 50m section, it was run in 25 seconds 05 and passed second after Mertens. Afterwards, he won the bronze medal by breaking the 150m section to 27 seconds and 350m, and then cut off the 50m section of the last minute to 27 seconds 62.
Hwang Sun -woo (Gangwon -do Office) won the medal (gold, silver, and one) in the men’s freestyle 200m in the World Championships for three consecutive times (2022, 2023, 2024), but Kim Woo -min is the first to win medals twice in the 400m freestyle. Park Tae -hwan harvested gold medals in the 2007 Melbourne competition and the 2011 Shanghai tournament in the 400m freestyle, but dropped out of the 2009 Roman competition.
Kim Woo -min became the fourth Korean player to become a medalist for revenge of the World Swimming Championship after Park Tae -hwan, Hwang Sun -woo and diving Kim Soo -ji (2019, 2024).
Currently, the male freestyle 400m Korean record is 3 minutes 41 seconds 53 by Park Tae -hwan in the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, and Kim Woo -min’s highest record is 3:42:42 written in the 3rd Marren NoStrum series in June last year.
Kim Chang -geum, senior reporter kimck@hani.co.kr