Joo-ho Lee (29, Seogwipo City Hall), the first Korean swimmer to advance to the finals of the backstroke event at the World Aquatics Championships, ranked 5th.
Lee Joo-ho ranked 5th by tapping the touchpad in 1 minute 56.38 seconds in the men's 200m backstroke final at the 2024 International Aquatics Federation World Aquatics Championships held at the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar, on the 17th (Korean time).
He passed the semi-finals in third place, raising expectations for a medal, but Lee Joo-ho unfortunately did not win a prize.
Lee Joo-ho, who was racing in 5th place until the 150m mark, made a last-minute spurt and aimed for 3rd place. However, Peter Cootsey (South Africa) took the bronze medal with a time of 1 minute 55.99 seconds, and Jack Akins (USA) took fourth place with a time of 1 minute 56.21 seconds.
Hugo González (Spain) won the gold medal with a time of 1 minute 55.30 seconds, and Roman Mityukov (1 minute 55.40 seconds, Switzerland) won the silver medal by 0.1 seconds.
Although he missed out on a medal, the mere fact that Lee Joo-ho stood on the starting line for the finals of this event was significant. This is the first time that a Korean swimmer has made it to the finals of the backstroke event at the World Championships.
Lee Joo-ho, who has competed in the 200m backstroke since the 2019 Gwangju Games, has repeatedly suffered in the semifinals, but succeeded in advancing to the finals at this year's Doha Games.
Lee Joo-ho is a leader in Korean backstroke, and holds the Korean records for the men's 100m (53.32) and 200m (1:56.05) backstroke.
At last year's Hangzhou Asian Games, she won two silver medals (200m backstroke, 400m medley relay) and two bronze medals (50m backstroke, 400m mixed medley relay). 19가이드03