(Olympics) Impressive career progression culminates in 1st Olympic medal for swimmer Kim Woo-min

They say development is not always linear for athletes, but South Korean swimmer Kim Woo-min, who won the bronze medal in the men's 400-meter freestyle at the Paris Olympics on Saturday, may beg to differ. Consider his record progression over the past two years. He finished sixth at the 2022 world championships in 3:45.64 and then improved to fifth place at the 2023 worlds with a time of 3:43.92. Kim captured his first world title this February in 3:42.71. About four months later, Kim set a new personal best with 3:42.42 to win an Olympic tuneup event. Kim did not match that time Saturday, but swimmers often say the Olympic Games are more about placements than records. And Kim took care of exactly that, grabbing his first Olympic medal with a time of 3:42.50. Lukas Maertens of Germany led wire-to-wire to win the gold in 3:41.78, and Australian Elijah Winnington grabbed the silver in 3:42.21. Kim, 22, almost didn't even have a chance to compete for a medal Saturday, after narrowly avoiding a stunning eli mination in the heats. In the heats, Kim had the fastest reaction time in his group and led the pack after the opening 100m. He stayed in second place through the 300m mark but then slowed considerably over the home stretch. He touched the pad in 3:45.52, good for only fourth in his group and fifth overall. That was a precarious position to be in, with the top eight moving on to the final one more group of eight swimmers remaining. Kim would have been finished if four swimmers from the last group had posted faster times than the South Korean. Kim later spoke of feeling nervous as he watched the race unfold. In the end, only two swimmers, Maertens and Winnington, ended up with better times than Kim, who sneaked into the final as the seventh-fastest qualifier. Kim admitted he was surprised himself with the way he had lost so much speed late in the race. But his confidence never wavered. "I don't think anyone can predict who's going to finish where in the final," Kim said, before adding with a smile. "Mayb e I can finish in first place." And when Kim beat everyone off the blocks in the final, with a reaction time of 0.62 second, he likely turned a few people into believers. But Maertens, who came into the Olympics owning the best 400m freestyle time this season at 3:40.33, proved too much for Kim and everyone else. Kim spent the majority of the race in second place behind Maertens and then got caught at the last moment by Winnington. Kim said before the Olympics that his ultimate career goal is to go down as "Swimming GOAT," as in, the greatest of all time. That's a lofty target, but as someone who doesn't have a hobby outside swimming, Kim may have just the kind of singular focus necessary to achieve greatness. Source: Yonhap News Agency