Men's 400m medley relay clocked at 3:31.97, shaving 0.08 seconds off previous Korean record

Kim anchors relay to bronze after 50m gold, 100m silver on consecutive days

Lee Ju-ho, Choi Dong-yeol, Yang Jae-hun swim as one team — 'Next target: break 3:20'

South Korea's men's 400m medley relay team poses with their bronze medals at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre during the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Tuesday. From left: Kim Young-bum, Yang Jae-hun, Choi Dong-yeol and Lee Ju-ho. [Yonhap]
South Korea's men's 400m medley relay team poses with their bronze medals at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre during the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Tuesday. From left: Kim Young-bum, Yang Jae-hun, Choi Dong-yeol and Lee Ju-ho. [Yonhap]

Kim Young-bum, South Korea's rising sprint swimming star, stepped onto the podium for the third consecutive day at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, completing a full gold-silver-bronze set at the competition.

Swimming the anchor freestyle leg Tuesday at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, Kim teamed up with Lee Ju-ho, Choi Dong-yeol and Yang Jae-hun to clock 3:31.97 in the men's 400m medley relay final, setting a new Korean record and claiming bronze.

The time bettered the previous Korean best of 3:32.05 — set when the team won silver at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games — by 0.08 seconds. Kim had already taken silver in the 100m freestyle on Sunday and gold in the 50m freestyle on Monday, making Tuesday's bronze the capstone of an unbroken three-day medal run.

Speaking to reporters after the race, Kim said the result carried deep meaning despite the color of the medal. "It might seem disappointing to finish with bronze, but we came together as one, broke the Korean record and won this medal — so I have no regrets at all. It's truly meaningful," he said with a broad smile. He added that the relay team had been steadily climbing, from the Hangzhou silver to reaching the final at the World Championships, but acknowledged that Japan and China had also raised their level significantly. "Next time, I want to train even harder so we can crack the 3:20 barrier," he said.

His teammates, all sunbae to Kim, also drew encouragement from the record and pledged to keep improving. Lee Ju-ho, the eldest on the squad and the backstroke leadoff swimmer, said he was glad to set a new Korean record for the first time since Hangzhou, though finishing third stung given the strength of China and Japan. "We've confirmed we have plenty of room to grow," he said. Breaststroker Choi Dong-yeol said the team would push hard to break into the 3:20s, noting that even small improvements from each swimmer add up to a significantly faster overall time. Butterflyer Yang Jae-hun vowed to address his weaknesses more thoroughly and deliver a better race at the next competition.

Meanwhile, Lee, who checked his pacing in the backstroke leg, set his sights on his main event, the 200m backstroke. "My split in the medley relay was solid, so if I focus on recovery and can touch the wall in the low 1:55s, I think I can go toe-to-toe with China's Xu Jiayu and the others and come away with a different color medal," he said.


silverpaper@heraldcorp.com