Medal-less again: Korea fails to place marathoner on podium for fourth Asian Games

NAGOYA, Japan — Once again, Korea failed to place a runner on the marathon podium at the Asian Games. And this year, the country finished behind India.

Park Min-ho of the Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps placed eighth in the men’s marathon, finishing in 2 hours, 15 minutes and 35 seconds in Nagoya, Japan, on Saturday.

He improved from his 11th-place finish at the 2022 Games in Hangzhou, China, but still fell well short of a medal. His teammate Kim Hong-rok of the Korea Electric Power Corporation finished 10th in 2:18:27.

Ichitaka Yamashita of Japan won gold with a time of 2:10:49. Sawan Barwal of India took silver with 2:11:37, and Feng Peiyou of China won bronze with 2:12:13.

Korea has not won a marathon medal at the Asian Games since Ji Young-jun took gold in Guangzhou in 2010 — a drought spanning four Games. The country had pinned its hopes on Park, whose personal best is 2:10:13, and newcomer Kim.

Park led the pack early, helped by mild temperatures of 21 degrees Celsius (69.8 degrees Fahrenheit) and a drizzle. But he began to fade at about the 20-kilometer (12.4-mile) mark and reached the halfway point in eighth place in 1:06:25, about 30 seconds behind the leaders.

By around 32 kilometers, the race had become a three-way contest among Yamashita, Barwal and Han Il-ryong, the silver medalist at the last Games.

Park kept the gap steady but could not close it. Han finished fourth in 2:12:21. Kim, who fell behind the leaders at about 10 kilometers, held 12th or 13th for much of the race before a late push lifted him to 10th.

Japan, which left its two strongest marathoners off the team, still claimed gold, preserving its standing as Asia’s top marathon nation. India, long a marginal presence in the event, delivered a surprise with Barwal, who ran in the 2:11:00 range in his debut at the Rotterdam Marathon in April.

Korea, meanwhile, seemed stagnant. Even excluding naturalized runners of African origin, Park was only sixth, trailing athletes from India and Indonesia. The result was not unexpected; Park holds the best personal record among active Korean runners, but he ranks only seventh on the country’s all-time list and is far from the national record of 2:07:20 set by Lee Bong-ju in 2000.

Kim was running his 10th marathon, but his only previous international competition was the Universiade.

In the women’s race, Choi Kyung-sun and Lim Ye-jin fell behind early and never contended. Both were selected based on their times this season but have been hampered by injuries. The Korea Association of Athletics Federations entered them anyway, in keeping with its selection criteria, and the results were as disappointing as expected.

BY KIM HYO-KYOUNG [[email protected]]