Kim Yeong-beom won the gold medal in the men’s 50m freestyle at the Asian Games.
After settling for the silver medal in the 100m the previous day by a margin of 0.04 seconds, he set a new meet record in his main event just one day later.
This race was more than simply adding a medal; he successively lowered his times in the preliminary round and final.
3-Line Summary
1. Kim Yeong-beom wins the 50m freestyle gold with a new meet record
2. At 21초66, he cut 0.05 seconds from his preliminary-round time
3. He made up for the disappointment of losing the 100m silver by 0.04 seconds
21초66 at Tokyo Aquatics Centre
Kim Yeong-beom (Gangwon State Provincial Government) touched the pad first in 21초66 in the men’s 50m freestyle final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games swimming competition, held at Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Tokyo, Japan, on September 21. The time was a new meet record and also the South Korean swimming team’s first gold medal of these Games.
The silver medal went to Ian Yentou Ho (Hong Kong swimmer) in 21초76, while Ji Yu-chan took the bronze in 21초94. South Korea reached the top of the podium in this event for the second consecutive Games, following Ji Yu-chan’s victory at the 2022 Hangzhou Games.
Kim Yeong-beom started in lane 4 of the final and held the lead. His reaction time off the start was 0.66 seconds, and he posted an even faster time in the final than in the preliminary round.
Lowering 21초71 Again Within Half a Day
Kim Yeong-beom advanced to the final after ranking first overall with 21초71 in the preliminary round that morning. This was 0.01 seconds faster than the previous meet record of 21초72, set by Ji Yu-chan at the 2022 Hangzhou Games.
In the final, he improved that time by another 0.05 seconds. The key to this gold medal was that, after first surpassing the meet record in the preliminary round, he lowered his own record again in the final. In the short 50m race, he broke the record in both the morning and afternoon before completing the victory.
Ji Yu-chan also won the bronze, putting the two South Korean athletes on the same final podium. Kim Yeong-beom’s record, however, was significant because it changed the meet’s benchmark time itself, beyond the competition for finishing position.
Second Individual-Event Medal Following the 100m Silver
The previous day, September 20, Kim Yeong-beom won the silver medal in the men’s 100m freestyle final with 47초65. The time of Pan Zhanle (Chinese swimmer), who won the gold, was 47초61, leaving a difference of 0.04 seconds between the two athletes.
In the 100m, he was first through the opening 50m split in 22초81, but the order changed in the final section. In the 50m the following day, he did not surrender the lead all the way to the finish. Over the two days, he won the 100m silver and 50m gold in succession.
The numbers to note in this result are 21초66 and 0.05 seconds. In addition to the gold medal itself, the fact that he lowered the time he set in the preliminary round again in the final explains Kim Yeong-beom’s 50m race.
References
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