South Korean swimming medal hopeful Kim Woo-min advanced to the final of the men’s 400-meter freestyle event at the Paris Olympics on Saturday.
Kim squeezed into the final after finishing seventh overall in the heats with a time of 3:45.52 at the Paris La Defense Arena in Nanterre, just west of Paris. The top eight swimmers from the heats qualified for the final, which is scheduled for 8:42 p.m. (local time), or 3:42 a.m. Sunday (South Korea time).
Kim, the current world champion in the 400m freestyle, is trying to become only the second South Korean swimmer to win an Olympic medal, joining former star Park Tae-hwan.
Park won the gold medal in the 400m freestyle in 2008 and followed that up with the silver four years later. He also won silver medals in the 200m freestyle in 2008 and 2012.
The men’s 400m freestyle final is the first swimming medal race of this Olympics.
Source: Yonhap News Agency