Lee Joo-ho reaches first ever World Championship final for South Korea in backstrok
Lee Joo-ho (29, Seogwipo City Hall) became the first South Korean athlete to reach a World Aquatics Championships final in the backstroke event.
Lee touched the touchpad in 1:56.40 in heat two of the men's 200-meter backstroke semifinals at the 2024 International Swimming Federation (ISF) World Championships at the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday (June 16).
Lee finished second in his heat and third overall to advance to the final, which will feature the top eight semifinalists.
Lee is the first South Korean athlete to reach the final in a backstroke event at a World Championships.
Lee had previously lost in the semifinals of the men's 200m backstroke at the World Championships.
At the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea finished 12th overall in the 200m backstroke in the preliminaries and qualified for the semifinals, but finished 11th overall in the semifinals and missed the final.
At the 2022 World Championships in Budapest, she qualified ninth in the preliminaries but finished 12th in the semifinals. Last year in Fukuoka, where she qualified for the semifinals as the 10th fastest swimmer, she finished 13th and failed to qualify for the final.
The 200-meter backstroke is Lee's main event and he won a silver medal at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games in September last year.
In the men's 200m backstroke semifinals, Zach Aikens (USA) finished first in 1:56.32 and Hugo Gonzalez (Spain) was second in 1:56.38.
The final will be held at 1:59 a.m. on Sunday.
“When I first competed at the World Championships, my goal was to pass the preliminaries,” Lee said through the Korean Swimming Federation. After that, I moved up step by step and constantly challenged myself with the goal of reaching the final,” said Lee, “I am happy to have reached the final.”
“I want to compete in the final without regrets, and it is important to go at my own pace from the beginning without being conscious of other swimmers,” he said, adding, “If I recover well and swim according to my preparation, I am sure I will have good results.”
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