Hwang Sun-woo
(Gangwon-do) gets off to a strong start during the men’s swimming 100 meters final at the 104th National Sports Games at Mokpo Indoor Pool in Mokpo, Jeollanam-do, on Oct. 18.
Hwang Sun-woo (20-Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province) won gold in the 400-meter medley relay
in his final event at the 104th National Games, making it five gold medals in two years.
Hwang Sun-woo teamed up with Song Im-kyu, Choi Dong-yeol and Yang Jae-hoon to take first place in
the 400-meter medley relay final in the men’s general swimming event at the Mokpo Indoor Pool in Mokpo, South Jeolla Province, on Monday with a time of 3 minutes, 36.50 seconds.
In the medley relay
A team event in which four swimmers race in the order of backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and
freestyle, Hwang Sun-woo was the final swimmer in the freestyle event and led the team to victory. It was
a dominant performance, finishing 2.83 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher (3:39.33).
This was Hwang’s fifth gold medal of the Games. He previously won gold in the 800-meter freestyle relay
on Friday, the 200-meter freestyle on Saturday, the 400-meter freestyle relay on Sunday, and the 100-meter freestyle on Monday.
It’s been two years since Hwang won five gold medals at the 2021 Games, where he competed as a high
school student. He won four gold medals at the 2022 Games. He could have won five back then, too, bu
t was disqualified in the 400-meter medley relay for a teammate’s false start. Hwang is the second South
Korean to win five medals at the Games after Choi Kang-in (Yul Gok-go), who won five diving medals in 14 years.
Hwang suffered from food poisoning after eating the wrong food in the lead-up to the Games, but still
managed to dominate and finish on top of the podium in all five events he competed in.
After the tournament
Hwang told his management company, All That Sports, “It feels great to finish the tournament with five
gold medals, including the last one. The medal is even more meaningful because I overcame the initial physical difficulties and achieved it together with my teammates.”
After a grueling schedule of competing at the Hangzhou Asian Games and the National Championships, Hwang said, “I plan to take a break to regain my form. I will focus on training again and try to have a better race at the national selection trials in November. I will run to the end for my dream of the Paris Olympics next year.”
Hwang’s five gold medals put him in position to win the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award for the third consecutive year for the first time in history. The National Championships MVP is voted on by a panel of journalists. 19가이드03