Singapore: South Korea finished in fifth place in the men's 4x200-meter freestyle relay at the swimming world championships in Singapore, unable to secure its second consecutive medal. The team, consisting of Kim Young-beom, Kim Woo-min, Lee Ho-joon, and Hwang Sun-woo, clocked a time of 7:02.29 at the World Aquatics Championships Arena.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Great Britain clinched the gold medal with a time of 6:59.84. China earned the silver medal, setting a new Asian record with a time of 7:00.91, surpassing the previous record held by South Korea by 0.82 seconds. Australia secured the bronze with a time of 7:00.98. The United States finished 1.05 seconds ahead of South Korea to take fourth place.

At the 2024 world championships in Doha, Kim Woo-min, Lee, and Hwang had previously teamed up with Yang Jae-hoon to win silver, marking South Korea's first medal in a relay event at the world championships. The same quartet had also achieved gold at the 2023 Asian Games with an Asian record time of 7:01.73.

In this year's championship, Kim Young-beom, aged 19, replaced Yang as the fourth member of the team. In July, Kim had ambitiously stated his goal to break the world record in the 4x200m relay in Singapore. However, the team fell short of this mark, which stands at 6:58.55, set by the United States in 2009 during the era of high-tech, full-body suits.

Kim Young-beom initiated the race with a time of 1:46.23, followed by Kim Woo-min's split of 1:44.66. At the 400m mark with a time of 3:30.89, South Korea was in third place, trailing behind Britain and China but ahead of Australia and the U.S. Lee Ho-joon's 200m segment of 1:46.14 saw South Korea drop to fifth place, and despite Hwang's final split of 1:45.26, the team could not secure a podium finish.