Park Tae-hwan and three other South Korean swimmers won a bronze medal in the men’s 800-meter freestyle relay event at the Incheon Asian Games on Monday.
At the final held at an aquatics center named after him, the Beijing Olympic gold medalist combined for seven minutes 21-point-37 seconds, along with his teammates Nam Ki-woong, Yang June-hyuck and Jeong Jeong-soo. Japan won a gold medal at seven minutes 6-point-74 seconds, while China came in second at seven minutes 16-point-51 seconds.
The four South Korean swimmers shortened the country’s record in the discipline by two-point-24 seconds. The previous Korean record was set during the Doha Asian Games in 2006 when the South Korean team, also led by Park, won a bronze medal.
The bronze also extends South Korea’s record of winning a medal in the men’s 800-meter relay at the Asian Games to a seventh consecutive time.
So far, South Korean swimmers have brought home only two bronze medals from the Incheon Asiad. The other bronze medal was also won by Park in the men’s freestyle 200-meter individual event on Sunday.