ⓒYONHAP News

The biennial World Aquatics Championships organized by FINA, or the International Swimming Federation, splashed in to action Friday.

A record two-thousand-639 athletes representing 194 countries will participate in the event in South Korea's southwestern cities of Gwangju and Yeosu.

Over the next 17 days, the world's best athletes in the aquatics disciplines of swimming, diving, high diving, open water swimming, artistic swimming and water polo will compete for top prizes and to break new records.

Gwangju will host swimming, diving, artistic swimming, water polo and high diving events, while open water swimming races will take place in ocean waters off Yeosu's coast.

South Korea's Kim Seo-yeong, who placed sixth in the women's 200 and 400-meter events two years ago, is hoping to bring home the nation's first medal in women's swimming.

Meanwhile, the so-called "Dream Team" from the U.S. consisting of 18 Olympic champions, including 2017 FINA MVP Caeleb Dressel, will look to live up to expectations, while China's Sun Yang will vie for a fourth consecutive gold in the men's 400-meter freestyle.