South Korean swimmer Kim Woo-min won the gold medal in the men's 400-meter freestyle race at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships, becoming the nation's first world swimming champion in 13 years. 

The 22-year-old came in first in the final race on Monday at the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar with his personal best of three minutes and 42-point-71 seconds, shaving off one-point-21 seconds from his previous world championship record and finishing point-15 second ahead of 2022 world champ Elijah Winnington of Australia.

Kim is only the second Korean to achieve the feat alongside swimming legend and Olympic gold medalist Park Tae-hwan who won the world title in 2007 and 2011. 

Kim, however, came short of breaking Park's national record of three minutes and 41-point-53 seconds. 

While 2023 world champ Samuel Short of Australia was absent ahead of the Summer Olympics in Paris, Kim faced tough competition in the race for gold with second to fourth-ranked swimmers including 2020 Olympic gold medalist Ahmed Hafnaoui of Tunisia all competing against Kim. 

Kim's gold medal comes two years after he swam his first-ever World Championship 400 meter freestyle final race, finishing sixth, and later ending fifth in last year's event.