Lee Joo-ho, 5th Place in 200m Backstroke… World Championships Korea’s Best Backstroke Performance Ever

Joo-ho Lee (29, Seogwipo City Hall) became the first Korean backstroke athlete to compete in the finals of the World Aquatics Championships and took 5th place.

Unfortunately, he did not win a medal, but he achieved Korea’s best ever backstroke performance at the World Championships.

Lee Joo-ho touched the pad for the fifth time with a record of 1 minute 56.38 seconds in the men’s 200m backstroke final at the 2024 International Aquatics Federation World Championships held at the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar, on the 17th (Korean time).

The gap with Peter Kuche (19, South Africa), who took third place with a time of 1 minute 55.99 seconds, was 0.39 seconds.

Lee Joo-ho was the first Korean athlete to reach the finals of the World Championships across all backstroke events. 안전놀이터

Lee Ju-ho, the ‘signature’ who holds the Korean record in the men’s 100m backstroke and 200m, was judged to be more internationally competitive in the 200m than in the 100m.

Three consecutive times in the 200m backstroke, including 11th place in Gwangju in 2019 (1 minute 57.68 seconds), 12th place in Budapest in 2022 (1 minute 57.55 seconds), and 13th place in Fukuoka in 2023 (1 minute 58.05 seconds).

Lee Joo-ho, who advanced to the semifinals of the World Championships, prepared for the Doha competition with the goal of advancing to the finals.

His confidence grew as he repeatedly broke Korean records at the Hangzhou Asian Games held in September last year (1 minute 56.54 seconds, silver medal) and the 2024 Management Representative Selection Tournament held in November (1 minute 56.05 seconds).

Lee Joo-ho, who advanced to the finals by finishing third overall with a time of 1 minute 56.40 seconds in the semifinals of this competition, reduced his record by 0.02 seconds in the finals, but his ranking fell two places.

However, through this competition, Korea achieved its best performance at the backstroke world championships.

In the final on this day, Hugo Gonzalez (24, Spain) won in 1 minute 55.30 seconds.

It has been 33 years since Martin Lopez-Subero won the men’s 200m backstroke at the 1991 Perth Games.

Roman Michukov (23, Switzerland) took second place with 1 minute 55.40 seconds.

Michukov, who placed third in Fukuoka last year, moved up one place this year.

Ji Yu-chan (21, Daegu Metropolitan City Hall), who competed in the men’s 50m freestyle semifinals, failed to advance to the finals with 21.87 seconds and 12th place overall.

However, ‘Hangzhou Asian Games gold medalist’ Ji Yu-chan became the first Korean athlete to reach the semifinals of this event and achieved the best performance ever.