Kim Seo-Young (a graduate from the Sports Department at Kyungil University)—a rising star in Korean swimming—swam very fast!

On the 26th, Kim won a gold medal with a record time of 4 minutes, 38.88 seconds in the women’s 400m individual medley held in the indoor swimming pool of Cheongju. Following previous medals in the 200m individual medley and the 800m relay, she won a third gold medal in the 400m individual medley.

Kim was very fast. There was a 10 second interval between her and the 2nd place finisher, Lee Hee-Eun (from Jeju City). Without a closecompetitor, she still managed to replace her own record set just last year. In recent years, Kim has improved her swimming skills quite a lot. At the Liu Olympic Games last year, she made it to the semi-finals, and in the 97th National Sports Games held two months later, she won the MVP of the tournament by breaking four Korean records.

At the national team selection contest held in Gimcheon last May, Kim set a new Korean record in the 400m individual (4min 35sec 93) and the 200m backstroke (2m 11sec 12). Last July she participated in the Budapest Women’s World Championships in Hungary and won 6th place with a record of 2 minutes, 10.40 seconds. Kim has been the only Korean swimmer who made the finals in the individual medley in the world championships.

Kim’s unwavering success is likely to continue. Born in 1994, she will be in her late 20s in 2020 when the Tokyo Olympics will be held. Thus, Kim wishes to win a medal for the first time in Korean women’s swimming at the Olympics. Kim In-Gyun, the director of the Gyeongbuk provincial government team, said, “Seo-Young is good at acquiring skills and is less resistant to water. She will probably continue to show her potential.”