South Korean sprint ace Kim Young-beom of the Gangwon Provincial Office reached the podium for a third straight day, completing a set of gold, silver and bronze medals.
Kim swam the freestyle anchor leg in the men's 400-meter medley relay final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on the 22nd at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Japan, joining Lee Ju-ho of the Seogwipo City Office and Choi Dong-yeol and Yang Jae-hoon, both of the Gangwon Provincial Office, to take bronze in a Korean record of 3 minutes 31.97 seconds.
The team shaved 0.08 seconds off the previous national mark of 3:32.05, set when Korea won silver at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, and reached the podium for a second consecutive Games. China won gold in 3:27.89 and Japan took silver in 3:28.70.
The bronze followed Kim's silver in the 100-meter freestyle and gold in the 50-meter freestyle earlier in the meet. "Some might think a bronze is disappointing, but there is nothing disappointing about it, because all of us broke the Korean record together with one heart," Kim said after the race. "It is a truly meaningful medal." He added, "A time in the 3:31 range is clearly a good record, but the Japanese and Chinese swimmers have suddenly raised their level so much that I also feel some regret."
Lee Ju-ho, the oldest member of the team, who swam the backstroke leg, said, "I am happy to have set a Korean record for the first time in a long while since the Hangzhou Games, but it is disappointing to finish third because the Chinese and Japanese times were so strong." He added, "We have confirmed how much room our swimmers have to grow, so we will compete on more even terms at the next Games." Lee, who will also compete in his main event, the 200-meter backstroke, said, "If I recover well before the race and post a time in the low 1:55 range, I can certainly change the color of my medal in the competition against China's Xu Jiayu and the Japanese swimmers."
