Park finishes just 0.12 seconds behind Japan's Kato for gold

Park Si-eun of South Korea smiles after winning the silver medal with a time of 2 minutes 22.69 seconds in the women's 200m breaststroke final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at Tokyo Aquatics Centre on Thursday. [Yonhap]
Park Si-eun of South Korea smiles after winning the silver medal with a time of 2 minutes 22.69 seconds in the women's 200m breaststroke final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at Tokyo Aquatics Centre on Thursday. [Yonhap]

Park Si-eun, one of South Korea's top breaststroke prospects, claimed a silver medal in the women's 200m breaststroke at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games while setting a new Korean record in the event.

Park finished second in the final held Thursday at Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Japan, clocking 2 minutes 22.69 seconds.

The time broke the previous Korean record of 2:23.21 — set by Moon Su-a of Seoul Sports High School at last year's National Sports Festival — by 0.52 seconds. Park finished just 0.12 seconds behind gold medalist Kato Kotomi of Japan, who touched the wall in 2:22.57.

Park had qualified second overall in the heats with a time of 2:26.57 and was assigned lane 5 for the final, where she engaged in a fierce battle for the lead with Kato in lane 4.

She mounted a powerful surge over the final 50 meters, closing to within striking distance of Kato, but could not overturn the 0.12-second gap and settled for silver. China's Zhu Leizhu took bronze with a time of 2:25.51.

Park had finished fifth in the women's 100m breaststroke final earlier in the Games, but delivered in her stronger event — the 200m — breaking the national record and claiming her first Asian Games medal.

The silver was South Korea's third in swimming at these Games, following Kim Young-beom in the men's 100m freestyle and Hwang Sun-woo in the men's 200m freestyle.


yjc@heraldcorp.com