Baek In-cheol (23, Busan Jung-gu Office) ranked 7th in the Korean men’s 50m butterfly race at the World Aquatics Championships, a record high.Baek In-cheol finished the race in 23.35 seconds in the men’s 50m butterfly final at the 2024 International Aquatics Federation World Championships held at the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar, on the 13th (Korean time).He ranked 7th out of 8 people who competed in the finals. Baek In-cheol, who placed 8th in the preliminaries with a time of 23.34 seconds and in the semifinals with a time of 23.24 seconds, moved up one place in the finals. Except for Baek In-cheol, no Korean athlete has ever competed in the finals of the World Championships in this event.
Although he set ‘Korea’s first record’, Baek In-cheol urged himself through the Korea Swimming Federation after the final, saying, “Compared to the preliminaries and semifinals, my final record is disappointing. I need to focus more on training. “He said, “As Korea is the first to advance to the finals of the World Championships in this sport, it was also the first time to play three games in a row: preliminaries, semifinals, and finals.” He added, “After paying a total of three games in two days, I knew that such a schedule would be a burden on the body, and training was difficult.” “I felt that I needed to improve my physical strength through ,” he added .Although he was disappointed with the final results, Baek In-cheol had a valuable experience. Baek In-cheol said, “I was happy and delighted to be able to play with a world-class player.” Last September, Baek In-cheol won the gold medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games, setting a new Korean record and competition record of 23.29 seconds. At the National Sports Festival in October, he broke the Korean record again with a time of 23.15 seconds.
Baek In-cheol said at the time, “It has been difficult to even reach the semifinals at the World Championships. I think I can do well at the Doha World Championships. I want to run a good race with the best athletes in the world.”Baek In-cheol, who was eliminated from the preliminaries in 23rd place despite setting the Korean record at the time of 23.50 seconds at the 2023 Fukuoka Games, advanced to the finals in Doha this year and competed with world-class athletes. On this day, Diogo Heavyiro (19, Portugal) won the men’s 50m butterfly final with a time of 22.97.Hebiiru, who took second place in Fukuoka last year, rose to first place in Doha this year. This is the first time that a Portuguese athlete has won gold in the men’s 50m butterfly. Michael Andrew (24, USA) took second place with 23.07 seconds, and Cameron McEvoy (29, Australia) took third place with 23.08 seconds. Lee Joo-ho (29, Seogwipo City Hall) finished 10th in the men’s 100m backstroke semifinals with a time of 53.82 seconds, missing out on a ticket to the finals by finishing in 8th place. The gap between Jack Akins (21, USA), who took the last train to the finals at 53.72 슬롯게이밍 seconds and 8th place, and Lee Joo-ho was 0.10 seconds.
