Podium regular ‘just wants to feel joy’ in Asian Games swimming events

After grabbing three gold medals and one silver medal in his Asian Games debut three years ago in China, swimmer Kim Woo-min said Tuesday he is hungry for more this fall.

Kim will compete in six races at next month's Asian Games in Japan — with Nagoya being the main host city but Tokyo hosting all swimming events — and his goal is to reach the podium in all of them.

Kim will try to defend his crown in the 400-meter freestyle, 800-meter freestyle and 4x200-meter freestyle relay. He is also slated to compete in the 200-meter freestyle, 1,500-meter freestyle and 4x100-meter freestyle relay.

"I won three gold medals last time, and I am feeling confident I can win even more medals this time," Kim said at a joint press conference with the national swimming team at the Jincheon National Training Center in Jincheon County, North Chungcheong. "I remember having so much fun at the last Asian Games. And I am not really feeling any pressure. I just want to feel the joy again this time."

With three more gold medals in Tokyo, Kim will join Park Tae-hwan as the only Korean swimmers to grab at least three gold medals at back-to-back Asian Games. Park accomplished that feat in 2006 and 2010.

Park's main event was the 400-meter freestyle, and his gold medal-winning time of 3:41.53 at the 2010 Asian Games still stands as the national record.

Kim, the 2024 world champion and Olympic bronze medalist in the 400-meter freestyle, has the personal best time of 3:42.42.

"I want to improve on my best time in the 400-meter freestyle, which is my main event," Kim said. "And I also want to set new personal bests in all the other races."

Yonhap