Jo Ki-seong returns, wins gold medal for AG in the main event, freestyle, for the first time in 12 years

(Nagoya = Yonhap News) Joint Reporters = Jo Ki-seong (Yongin City Hall), a living legend of disabled swimming who retired after the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games and returned, won a valuable gold medal at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Para Games (Asian Para Games).

Ki-seong Cho won the men's 150m individual medley (sport grade SM4) at the competition held at the Nagoya Sports Complex in Japan on the 22nd with a record of 2 minutes 43.36 seconds.

Cho Ki-seong, who won silver medals in the men's 50m freestyle and 50m breaststroke, won his third medal and first gold medal in this competition.

In addition, Jo Ki-seong won a gold medal in the 200m freestyle at the 2014 Incheon Games for the first time in 12 years.

Jo Ki-seong will challenge for his second gold medal in the men's 100m freestyle on the 23rd.

Cho Ki-seong, who has a congenital brain lesion, started swimming at the age of 13 for rehabilitation treatment, and won the men's 50m, 100m, and 200m freestyle at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympic Games when he was 20, becoming the first Korean athlete to win three Paralympic gold medals.

Afterwards, as his disability worsened, he was unable to achieve satisfactory results.

At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games, he only won a no medal, and although he changed his main event from freestyle to breaststroke to prepare for the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games, he also failed to win a medal.

Jo Ki-seong announced his retirement after the Paris competition, saying he would study psychology and help his juniors.

However, when he joined the Yongin City Hall swimming team, which was founded in 2025, he took on the challenge again, and regained his confidence by winning three gold medals in freestyle, his main event, at the 46th National Sports Festival for the Disabled held last month.