Teen swimmer Hwang Sun-woo has advanced to the finals in the men's 200-meter freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics, becoming the first South Korean to do so in nine years.

The 18-year-old finished Monday's semifinals held at Tokyo Aquatics Center at one-minute-45-seconds-53, ranking fifth in Heat Two, and sixth among 16 swimmers.

On Sunday, Hwang had finished first in the preliminaries at one-minute-44-seconds-62, breaking the previous national record of one-minute-44-seconds-80 set by two-time Olympian Park Tae-hwan at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games.

Sunday's time was also a new world junior record. Hwang had set the previous one of one-minute-44-seconds-96 in May.

The last time a South Korean swimmer advanced to the Olympic finals in swimming was at the 2012 London Games, where Park won two silver medals in the men's 200-meter and 400-meter freestyle events.

Park, the country's only Olympic medalist in swimming, previously won gold in the 400-meter and silver in the 200-meter events at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The finals for this year's 200-meter freestyle will take place on Tuesday.