Park Tae-hwan finishes eighth in 200m freestyle at swimming worlds

SEOUL, July 26 (Yonhap) — South Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan has finished eighth in the men’s 200m freestyle at the ongoing world championships.

With a time of 1:47.11, Park came in last among eight finalists at the 2017 FINA World Aquatics Championships at Danube Arena in Budapest, Hungary, on Tuesday (local time).

Park squeezed into the final by finishing eighth in Monday’s semifinals, despite setting his season-best with 1:46.28. In the heats held earlier Monday, Park ended up 14th among 16 qualifiers for the semis.

Park swam in the eighth lane in the final, and never really came close to a medal despite tying James Guy of Britain for the fastest reaction time with 0.64 second.

Park was fourth after the first 50m at 24.60, but dropped to last place at the 100m turn at 51.50.

The South Korean never recovered the rest of the way. He was still in eighth place at 150m, with a time of 1:19.09, and had the worst split in the last 50m at 28.02 seconds.

Sun Yang of China, the reigning Olympic 200m champion, got his first world title in the distance in 1:44.39. Townley Haas of the United States finished 0.65 second behind for silver, followed by Aleksandr Kransnykh of Russia in 1:45.23.

The 200m is Park’s second event at these world championships. He finished fourth in the 400m freestyle final on Sunday. He’ll wrap up his campaign in the 1,500m freestyle later in the week.

Park, 27, won 400m world titles in 2007 and 2011, and picked up a bronze in the 200m free at the 2007 event. This is Park’s first world championships appearance since 2011 in Shanghai.

Park’s personal best in the 200m free is 1:44.80, which he clocked in winning the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games gold medal.

In this Associated Press photo, Park Tae-hwan of South Korea competes in the men’s 200m freestyle semifinals at the FINA World Aquatics Championships at Danube Arena in Budapest, Hungary, on July 24, 2017. (Yonhap)

jeeho@yna.co.kr

5 Comments

1. Waskita

   July 27, 2017 at 12:11 AM

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