Cho Ki-sung, a three-time winner of the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games, failed to win a medal in 4th place in the 50m breaststroke. The 100m butterfly champion declared his retirement after failing the preliminary round

Aug 30, 2024

Courtesy of the Korean Sports Council for the Disabled

The Korean swimming team has been sluggish since the first day of the 2024 Paris Paralympic medal race. Cho Ki-sung (28, Gyeonggi Province), who seemed to be able to win a medal, failed to win the prize by just 0.21 seconds.

Jo Gi-seong, a three-time winner of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics, ranked fourth in the men's 50m breaststroke final at La Defense Arena in Paris, France, with a time of 50.73 seconds. He was only 0.21 seconds behind Spain's Miguel Luque (50.52 seconds), who finished third. In other words, he missed the medal by a hair's breadth.

Courtesy of the Korean Sports Council for the Disabled

Jo Gi-seong, the only Korean swimming team player who competed on the day to reach the final, got off to a strong start in lane 5. The early race was not bad. He continued his fierce battle with Luque, Efrem Monelli (Italy), and Amidaon (Israel). However, he failed to win a medal in the final spurt by a narrow margin. Jo Gi-seong will compete in the men's individual medley 150m on September 2 and the men's backstroke 50m on September 7 and try to win the prize once again.

Kang Jeong-eun (24, Daegu Dalseo-gu Office), who competed in the women's 100m butterfly (S14 grade) qualifying round, recorded 1:11.60 to fail to advance to the final round as 12th out of 16 qualifiers. Neither Cho Won-sang (31, Suwon Sports Council for the Disabled) nor Lee In-guk (28, Ansan Sports Council for the Disabled) made the final round of the men's 100m butterfly (S14 grade). Cho Won-sang, the bronze medalist in the 200m freestyle at the 2012 London Paralympics, announced his retirement from active duty after failing to advance to the final round.

wman@sportschosun.com