South Korean swimming sensation Hwang Sun-woo finished fifth in the finals of the men's 100-meter freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics, recording the best performance for an Asian swimmer in 69 years. 

The 18-year-old finished Thursday’s finals held at Tokyo Aquatics Center in 47-seconds-82. It was behind the 47-seconds-56 that Hwang recorded during the semifinals on Wednesday. 

Though Hwang failed to grab a medal, he achieved the best performance for an Asian swimmer since Hiroshi Suzuki of Japan won the silver medal in the same event in the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki.  

Hwang will compete in the men’s 50-meter freestyle preliminaries on Friday.