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Park Tae-hwan wins world 400m freestyle |
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Park Tae-hwan, center, of Korea shows off his gold medal with runner-up Sun Yang, right, of China and bronze medalist Paul Biedermann of Germany after winning the 400-meter freestyle in the FINA World Championships in Shanghai, Sunday. / Yonhap |
 By Yoon Chul
Korean Olympic gold medalist Park Tae-hwan won the men’s 400-meter freestyle in the FINA World Championships in Shanghai, Sunday.
At the Oriental Sports Center Park touched first clocking in at 3:42.04 overwhelming Chinese youngster Sun Yang
"I am glad I swam in lane 1, which allowed me to fully concentrate on my own tempo and not get distracted by the competition," said Park, who stumbled at the 2009 Rome worlds a year after his Olympic success.
Sun was 1.2 seconds behind Park and world record holder Paul Biedermann finished third.
Korean fans were worried about the final as the 21-year-old swimmer barely qualified for the last eight in seventh place but as the race began they realized it was an unnecessary concern.
Park led from the beginning and at 150 meters was faster than world record pace but he failed to sustain this in the next 100 meters and fell behind the pace.
The 1.83-meter Korean kicked hard again touching the wall first at 300 meters and not allowing any of the other contenders a chance to catch him.
Park swam the race at his own pace saving his energy for a consistency, clocking 26.43 in the last 50 meters the second fastest time recorded in that stretch.
Sun, who is good at long-distance competition, accelerated from the mid-point of the race ― he wasn’t among the top three until then ― but it wasn’t enough to catch Park.
In the preliminary round Park used the same strategy he used in the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games ― swimming just to qualify, not to win ― to ensure he was not placed in the middle of the eight lanes.
In 2010 he finished fifth in the preliminary, landing him in lane 2 in the final and away from Chinese contenders Sun and Zhang Lin, who competed in lanes 4 and 5.
This allowed him to set his own pace and set his best record.
The difference this time was being placed in lane 1, which along with lane 8 is one swimmers try to avoid because of the strong currents set up by other swimmers and “reflections” from the sides of the pool.
Another disadvantage is being far away from the pace setters, usually in lanes 3, 4 and 5, where the best qualifiers compete.
Experts including Park’s long-term coach Roh Min-sang said that to avoid that disadvantage Park had to make the fast start that he did.
Park swims in the qualifiers of the 200-meter freestyle today with the final being Tuesday.
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세계수영- 박태환, 400ｍ 금메달
박태환(22·단국대)이 2011 국제수영연맹(FINA) 세계수영선수권대회 남자 자유형 400ｍ에서 금메달을 땄다.
박태환은 24일 중국 상하이 오리엔탈 스포츠센터에서 열린 남자 자유형 400ｍ 결승에서 3분42초04로 맞수 쑨양(중국·3분43초24)과 세계기록(3분40초07) 보유자인 파울 비더만(독일·3분44초14)을 제치고 1위로 레이스를 마쳤다.
이로써 박태환은 2007년 호주 멜버른 대회에 이어 자유형 400ｍ에서 개인 통산 두 번째 세계대회 금메달을 목에 걸었다. (연합)
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yc@koreatimes.co.k |
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