'What's wrong with Hwang Sun-woo's prediction?', U.S. swimming media expects Hwang Sun-woo to rank third in the 200m freestyle, while Kim expects Popovich'
Hwang Sun-woo (21, Gangwon Provincial Office), South Korea's leading medal candidate, is expected to take third place at the 2024 Paris Olympics. This is the prediction of the US swimming media, so it is not easy to let in.
Swimswam, an online swimming media outlet in the United States, released the results of the men's 200m freestyle prediction for the Paris Olympics on the 24th (Korea time). David Popovich (Romania) is expected to win the gold medal and Lucas Martens (Germany) is expected to win the silver medal. Hwang Sun-woo's name came out for the third time.
According to the media, "Hwang Sun-woo, a prominent medal candidate, won the men's 200m freestyle at the Guangzhou Asian Games in September last year with a personal record of 1:44.40. He was third in the record rankings that year, and tied for fourth this year."
Hwang won the men's 200m freestyle at the 2024 Doha World Championships this year with a time of 1:44.75. It ranks fourth in the world this year. Popovich has the best record this year, taking 13 with 1:43. After that, Martens (1:44:14) and Matthew Richards (1:44:69) posted good records. Hwang shares fourth place with Duncan Scott of the United Kingdom.
The men's 200m freestyle is so competitive that it is difficult to predict the ranking easily. Swimswam, however, is "Popovich is the favorite to win. He explained that he has the highest chance of winning the Paris Olympics because he is more than a second ahead of Martens in terms of this year's record."
Prior to this, Sports Illustrated (SI), an American sports media outlet, made a shocking prediction that Hwang Sun-woo would not win a medal at the Paris Olympics. On the 23rd, SI announced the candidates for the prize in all events of the Paris Olympics. South Korea was expected to win five gold medals, five silver medals and seven bronze medals, but Hwang Sun-woo was completely absent from the list of medal winners.
SI predicted that Popovich would win the gold medal in Hwang Sun-woo's main event, the men's 200m freestyle, followed by Martens and Richards, who would win silver and bronze medals, respectively.
On the other hand, Grace Note, an American sports data analysis company, gave a completely different estimate. According to the Paris Olympics forecast released by the company on the 23rd, the South Korean team will rank 10th in the overall ranking, winning nine gold medals, four silver medals, and 13 bronze medals, exceeding the Korean Olympic Committee's forecast (5th gold, 15th overall). In addition, Hwang Sun-woo is expected to win a silver medal in the men's 200m freestyle.
The reason why the media's expectations are so mixed is that the men's 200m freestyle is so competitive and there can be many unexpected results. Hwang Sun-woo also said, `We don't know what will happen because there are eight players who recorded a record of 1:44 this year. The top three spots in major competitions have changed every time. The rank can be divided by the difference in the fingertips." This means that the color of the medal can be determined by the condition and concentration on the day.
Hwang Sun-woo and the management team, who arrived in Paris on the 16th to adjust in advance, held their first official training session at La Defense Arena in Paris on the 23rd, where the Olympic medal race will be held. After finishing his first training session, Hwang said, `I feel light, so I think I'll just have to stay in this condition until the day of the game", showing confidence. Hwang Sun-woo will play the 200m freestyle preliminaries and the semifinals on the morning and afternoon of the 28th local time in Paris, and the final race on the afternoon of the 29th.
