Jincheon: At the tender age of 19, South Korean swimmer Kim Young-beom is nothing if not confident. One may chalk it up to youthful chutzpah, as Kim declared Tuesday his goal for the upcoming world championships is to break the world record in the men's 4x200-meter freestyle relay.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Kim will be teaming up with veterans Hwang Sun-woo, Kim Woo-min, and Lee Ho-joon in the relay. The three raced to a silver medal at last year's world championships in Doha with Yang Jae-hoon as the fourth member, finishing with a time of 7:01.94, only 0.10 seconds behind China. The quartet owns the national record time of 7:01.73, set during the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
The world record time stands at 6:58.55, set by the United States during the 2009 world championships, a period marked by the use of high-tech, full-body swimsuits that led to numerous world records. Many of the records set during that championship remain unbroken. However, Kim, who has emerged as a new star in South Korean swimming this year, voiced his confidence that the relay record could be broken at this year's world championships in Singapore, starting July 27.
For South Korea to make it into the record books, Kim would need to achieve a split time under 1:45:00, which he believes is "certainly doable." "I think I can go even faster than that," he said during a joint press conference with his teammates at the Jincheon National Training Center in Jincheon, approximately 85 kilometers south of Seoul. "That's why I've set this goal."
After hearing Kim's announcement, Hwang, the defending world champion in the 200m freestyle, responded with a smile, "I don't think we talked about this beforehand." However, Hwang acknowledged it would be "a dream come true" to set the world record in the relay, and he and his teammates are working hard towards that. "If we can each set our personal best times in splits, then we can definitely set the world record," Hwang added. "Young-beom has the potential to get into the 1:44 range. He only started competing in the 200m freestyle this year and he's been improving rapidly."
Kim Woo-min, the defending 400m world champion, expressed that he has been energized by Kim Young-beom's confident energy in training. "I must say I am a bit shocked that he mentioned the world record here," Woo-min said with a smile. "But his energy rubs off on all of us. And setting the world record isn't just a pipe dream for us."
Kim Young-beom, who holds the national record in the 100m butterfly with 51.56 seconds, will forego his main event in Singapore to focus on the relay. Meanwhile, Kim Woo-min, who previously competed in the 400m and the 800m, will only race in the 400m this time to concentrate on the relay. "The relay is taking up a huge part of our overall preparations," Woo-min stated. "It was disappointing to come up just short of the gold at last year's competition, but it felt great to stand on the podium together, and we all want to enjoy that feeling again."
Hwang, who has won three individual medals and one relay medal in his world championships career, shared that winning a medal with teammates is more gratifying than doing so alone. "As good as individual medals are, I really enjoyed reaching the podium with my team last year," Hwang noted. "The relay brings us all together and I love our camaraderie."