Hwang Seon-woo (20, Gangwon-do Office), the ‘hope’ of Korean swimming ahead of a major competition this year, picked the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games to be held in September as the most important competition.
He is determined to achieve his dream of not only winning the 200m freestyle, the main event at the Hangzhou Asian Games, but also winning the gold medal in the team event at the Asian Games for the first time in Korean business history.
The Hangzhou Asian Games Special Strategic Training Team, consisting of Hwang Seon-woo, Lee Ho-jun (Daegu Metropolitan City Hall), Kim Woo-min, and Yang Jae-hun (above Gangwon Provincial Office), left for Brisbane, Australia on the 8th for the second overseas training.
The Korea Swimming Federation, which aims to win the gold medal in the relay race at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, formed a special strategic training team with athletes who finished 1st to 4th in the men’s freestyle 200m final at the 2023 Business National Team Selection Competition held last November. They, national team leader Jeon Dong-hyun, and trainer Park Ji-hoon will conduct special training with former Australian management team leader Richard Skals for 35 days in Brisbane, Australia.
This year is an important year for Hwang Sun-woo. The World Aquatics Championships will be held in Fukuoka, Japan in July, and the Asian Games in Hangzhou await in September.
Hwang Seon-woo, who met with reporters ahead of departure, said, “There are the World Championships and the Asian Games this season. It is important to go to the end without giving up.” What I want to achieve the most is the Asian Games gold medal, and I really want to win the Asian Games team gold medal, which Korea has never achieved before.”
Around this time last year, Korea also formed a special strategy training team and conducted special training with leader Ian Pope in Melbourne, Australia for six weeks, and it was very effective.
Leading by Hwang Seon-woo, Korea succeeded in advancing to the team finals for the first time in business history in the men’s 800m relay at the Long Course (50m) World Swimming Championships held in Budapest, Hungary last year. He broke the Korean record in the preliminaries and finals, and finished 6th in the finals.
In December last year, at the Melbourne Short Course (25m) World Swimming Championships, he set a new Korean record in the preliminaries and finals, and climbed to 4th in the finals, writing the best team record ever at the World Championships.
Hwang Seon-woo Personally, last year’s training camp in Australia was very helpful. Hwang Seon-woo, who was advised by the Pope coach to increase the number of dolphin kicks, showed great improvement in swimming.
At last year’s World Championships in Budapest, Hwang Seon-woo earned a silver medal in the 200m freestyle final, setting a new Korean record of 1:44:47. If the range is narrowed down to 200m freestyle, it is the best result ever, surpassing Park Tae-hwan’s bronze medal at the 2007 Melbourne Games.
At the Short Course World Championships, Hwang Seon-woo set a new Asian record of 1:39:72 in the 200m freestyle final and won the gold medal. It was the second consecutive win following last year.
Jeon Dong-hyun, the national team leader, said, “Last year, when I trained with coach Pope, I received a lot of guidance on stroke. The training method suited our players well, so last year’s results were good.” I think the effect will be better if we train while competing together.”
He added, “I heard메이저놀이터 that the amount of training this time is quite large. When I trained at the Jincheon Athletes’ Village, I trained for 1-2 hours in the morning and afternoon, but during the special training, I heard that the training schedule was set for 2 and a half hours.”
Hwang Seon-woo said, “If we continue to practice with the Australian club team players this year following last year, I think the morale and skills of the players will increase overall.” They say there will be a lot of training in Australia, but there are many important competitions this year, so I will do my best.”
Skals, who is participating in the special training this time, is the mentor of Cameron McAvoy, the silver medalist in the men’s 100m freestyle at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships in Kazan, and Eliza Winnington, the gold medalist in the men’s 400m freestyle at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest. The federation promoted this special training by raising the leadership of Skalth, who is specialized in mid-range.
Hwang Seon-woo said, “Last year, coach Pope paid a lot of attention to the dolphin kick. Watching the video of last year’s short course world championships, I felt that the results came out.” . Coaches who are specialized in mid-distance basically value physical strength. Receiving guidance will also be helpful.”
Sunwoo Hwang’s main events are the 100m and 200m freestyle. However, some say he is better off focusing on the 200m and 400m freestyle, as Asian runners are less competitive compared to Western players in the 100m freestyle.
Leader Jeon Dong-hyun smiled, saying, “From a coach’s point of view, I hope Hwang Seon-woo will try up to 400m freestyle. It’s a situation he doesn’t want, but if he gets guidance from a professional mid-distance instructor, he won’t change his mind.”
Hwang Seon-woo said, “It is my belief that I will focus on 100m and 200m rather than 400m freestyle now.”
Last year, Hwang Seon-woo succeeded in breaking his own Korean record in the 200m freestyle, but failed to set a new Korean record in the 100m freestyle. Hwang Seon-woo’s 47.56 seconds at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is the Korean record for the 100m freestyle so far.
Hwang Seon-woo said, “I want to shorten the 100m freestyle record, which was not shortened last year. In the 200m freestyle, I am aiming to set a record of 1 minute 43 seconds.”
He aims even higher in the 800m relay race. The best Korean swimmer ever achieved in the men’s team event at the Asian Games was the silver medal in the relay 800m relay jointly by Sangjun Ji, Woochul, Wonki Woo, and Seunghoon Bang at the 1994 Hiroshima Games in Japan. He dreams of winning a gold medal in the team event at the Asian Games for the first time ever.
Hwang Seon-woo said, “I don’t think the individual skills of the players are at the peak yet. I think we can shorten the record infinitely.” I want to win a gold medal with a better record in the 2018 World Championships as well.”