[National Sports Festival] Hwang Seon-woo, winner of 2 gold medals, "On the 20th, the challenge of winning 6 gold medals will begin... I will do my best"

(Jeju = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Kyung-yoon = Korean swimming ace Hwang Seon-woo (Gangwon Provincial Office), who is aiming to tie the record for winning the most Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) in the history of national sports competitions, expressed his determination, saying that he will give his all in the game on the 20th, the critical moment of his challenge for 6 gold medals.

After winning the men's 200m freestyle final at the 107th National Sports Festival held at the Jeju Stadium swimming pool in Jeju City on the 19th, Hwang Sun-woo said, "I will run two events tomorrow (200m individual medley and 400m relay), and it is a difficult time because they are the events for which I am the least prepared. I will do my best first." “I will challenge for 6 crowns,” he said.

Hwang Sun-woo won a gold medal in the men's 800m relay held at the same location the day before, and on this day won the main event, the 200m freestyle, to claim two gold medals.

He will participate in two events on the 20th, then the 400m mixed medley relay on the 21st and the 400m medley relay on the 22nd.

Among them, the 400m mixed medley relay is held as a demonstration event and does not count towards multiple wins, but if she wins 5 official and 6 unofficial gold medals, she is expected to get closer to being crowned MVP.

If Hwang Seon-woo, who received the MVP award at the National Sports Festival four times in total, adds the MVP trophy in this tournament, he will tie with Park Tae-hwan for the most MVP awards in the history of the National Sports Festival.

The key is physical strength.

Hwang Sun-woo, who returned from the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, will follow the schedule of participating in six events over five days at this competition.

Sunwoo Hwang said, “It is a kind of challenge to participate in six events,” and added, “The 400m mixed medley relay is not an official event, so it does not affect the official results, but I decided to participate because I thought there was an opportunity to win six (unofficial) gold medals.”

He added, "It hasn't been long since I played in the Asian Games, so my current condition is not very good, but I will still do my best in the game."

Meanwhile, Kim Woo-min (Gangwon Provincial Office), a three-time winner of the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games who watched the game from the stands that day, laughed and said, “I think Hwang Sun-woo will receive the MVP.”

He said, “(Hwang) Sunwoo must be physically heavy as he has competed in the Asian Games and then competed in the National Sports Festival, but I can feel that he is working hard.” He added, “I always feel a lot of things when I see Sunwoo.”

Kim Woo-min was unable to complete the competition due to a worsening shoulder injury during the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

After returning to Korea, he chose rehabilitation instead of surgery, and plans to begin full-scale rehabilitation training after recovery.

Kim Woo-min said, "I can't do shoulder training, but I am preparing for rehabilitation by doing aerobic training such as running. I will calmly recover my body and come back."