With three Asian Games gold medals around his neck at the ripe age of 22, South Korean swimmer Kim Woo-min sees a bright future ahead of him, a path that he believes can lead to the podium at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Kim completed his hat trick of gold medals in Hangzhou, China, on Friday night, winning the 400-meter freestyle in dominant fashion. With a time of 3:44.36, Kim left his competition in the dust, as Pan Zhanle of China got silver in 3:48.81.
Kim became the first South Korean athlete to win three gold medals at this Asiad. He is now just the third South Korean swimmer to grab three golds at a single Asian Games, joining Choi Yun-hui in 1982 and Park Tae-hwan in 2006 and 2010.
The memorable run in Hangzhou is the culmination of an impressive growth for Kim, who was the only Asian to reach the 400m freestyle final at the world championships two months ago.
The next world championships will be in February next year in Doha, only five months before the Olympics. Where some may see a tight schedule, Kim sees an opportunity to further etch his name into Korean swimming history books.
"I was sixth at last year's world championships in Budapest, and fifth this year," Kim listed his rankings.
So would the goal at next year's worlds be to finish in fourth place?
"No, I want to finish third next year," Kim said with a smile. "And then at the Olympics, I want to finish in first place. That's my goal."
If Kim can keep developing at this rate, he may well become a medal threat by the time Paris 2024 rolls around.
In Friday's 400m final, Kim kicked into high gear right off the block and never looked back. He admittedly tired toward the end, but it wasn't enough to spoil his wire-to-wire victory.
Kim said not saving any energy at the start was by design.
"I felt I had to swim at that pace to be able to compete at the Paris Olympics," Kim said. "I thought I had to swim that fast to keep up with the best in the world. I regarded this as part of my preparation for the Olympics, and I am proud of the fact that it all worked out really well."
Kim was basically swimming by himself in a race against the record books by the 250m turn. Not having anyone pushing him partly explains Kim's relatively poor time -- he clocked 3:43.92 at this year's worlds -- but Kim said he wasn't paying much attention to what his competitors were doing.
"I thought if I led the way from the start, the other guys would try to catch me and keep things close," Kim said. "I wanted to pull ahead as much as I could and see what happens."
Kim won his first gold medal in the 4x200m freestyle relay. He followed that up with a silver in the 1,500m freestyle, and then the gold medals in the 800m and 400m freestyle.
Because of that runner-up finish in the 1,500m, Kim said he would give himself "95 out of 100" for his performance in Hangzhou.
"I learned I have so much more work to do in the 1,500m, and I didn't have as great a time in the 400m," Kim said. "But the relay gold medal was pretty special because I got to share it with my teammates. And I was also proud of the 800m gold medal."
Source: Yonhap News Agency