Tears for a rival of David Popovici » Substantially improved his time in the 200m freestyle: “I finally did it!”
Article by Roxana Fleșeru – Published Monday, October 20, 2025 9:18 p.m. / Updated Monday, October 20, 2025 9:24 p.m.
South Korea's Hwang Sun-woo (22) became the seventh all-time swimmer in the 200m freestyle with a performance of 1:43.97 in a national competition. His best time before Monday's performance was 1:44.40.
Hwang Sun-woo clocked 1:43.92 in the 200m freestyle to win the gold medal at the National Sports Festival held at the Busan Sports Complex's Sajik Indoor Pool on Monday, breaking his previous personal best and the South Korean national record of 1:44.40 set in 2023. He also broke the Asian record of 1:44.39, set by Chinese Olympic medalist Sun Yang.
Hwang is one of the most popular swimmers from South Korea, having been on the podium in the 200m freestyle at three consecutive World Championships. He won silver in 2022 in Budapest, bronze in Fukuoka in 2023 and gold in 2024 in Doha. This year in Singapore, he was fourth, being overtaken by David Popovici, Luke Hobson and Tatsuya Murasa.
The South Korean is the seventh swimmer in history with the time set on Monday. Ahead of him are Paul Biedermann, Michael Phelps, David Popovici, Yannick Agnel, Luke Hobson and Danila Izotov.
The first ten swimmers in the 200m freestyle event in the 50m pool
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Paul Biedermann (Germany) – 1:42.00 (2009)
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Michael Phelps (USA) – 1:42.96 (2008)
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David Popovici (Romania) – 1:42.97 (2022)
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Yannick Agnel (France) – 1:43.14 (2012)
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Luke Hobson (USA) – 1:43.73 (2025)
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Danila Izotov (Russia) – 1:43.90 (2009)
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Hwang Sun-woo (South Korea) – 1:43.92 (2025)
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Ian Thorpe (Australia) – 1:44.06 (2001)
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Lukas Märtens (Germany) – 1:44.14, (2024)
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Tom Dean (Great Britain) – 1:44.22 (2021)
Hwang Sun-woo, after Yannick Agnel, David Popovici and Luke Hobson.
The South Korean's time is the seventeenth fastest ever in the 200m freestyle, making him just the fourth swimmer to go under 1:44.00 in the event in a textile suit, after Yannick Agnel, David Popovici and Luke Hobson.
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The Romanian, who has five sub-1:44.00 performances in his career, is the only one to go under 1:43.00 in the textile suit, stopping the clock at 1:42.97 at the 2022 Rome EC.
“This is one of the happiest moments of my life. Throughout my swimming career I have tried to break the 1:44 mark in the 200m freestyle. We finally made it!”Hwang said at a press conference, as quoted by the Korea Herald.
Hwang Sun-woo cried after the race and on the podium, an occurrence considered unusual by Korean journalists, who describe the swimmer as a controlled and tempered person. “Today, the memories of all the difficult times came back to my mind and the tears continued to flow.” he said, reflecting on the challenging recent past.
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Hwang Sun-woo was first under the line after the semi-finals, missing the Olympic final by 0.25 seconds.
