[National Sports Festival] Kim Young-beom, who missed two gold medals, said, "I aimed for the Asian record in the 50m freestyle."

(Jeju = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Kyung-yoon = Kim Young-beom (Gangwon Provincial Government), who maintained the pride of Korean swimming at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, could not hide his disappointment even after winning two gold medals in one day at the 107th National Sports Festival.

Kim Young-beom won the gold medal in the men's 50m freestyle swimming category at the National Sports Festival held at the Jeju Stadium swimming pool in Jeju City on the 18th, beating Ji Yu-chan (Daegu City Hall, 22.27 seconds) with a record of 22.14 seconds.

In the men's regular 800m relay final held next, he won the competition with Jae-hoon Yang, Seon-woo Hwang, and Jun-woo Kim with a time of 7 minutes 18.89 seconds, winning the competition's second gold medal.

However, Kim Young-beom could not smile brightly.

He met with Yonhap News after the match and said, "My original goal for this competition was to set a new Asian record in the 50m freestyle. I think I was overconfident. It's disappointing that my record didn't meet my expectations."

Youngbeom Kim is Asia's strongest athlete in the men's 50m freestyle.

In the men's 50m freestyle final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held last month, he won the gold medal with a new competition record of 21.66 seconds and a Korean tie record.

It was only 0.02 seconds different from the Asian record in this event (21.64 seconds) set by Shuya Matsumoto of Japan in July last year.

Kim Young-beom said, “I worked hard to maintain my condition even after finishing the Asian Games, and prepared for this competition as usual, but I ended up with a slightly disappointing record,” and pledged, “I will definitely try to set a new Asian record next time.”

Although he failed to achieve his goal in the main event, Youngbeom Kim is determined to continue his gold medal streak in the remaining games.

He will also participate in the men's 400m relay on the 20th and the 100m freestyle on the 21st, aiming to win four gold medals in the competition.

Kim Young-beom also planned to participate in the 400m medley relay held on the 22nd, but reduced the number of events to four to control his condition.

Kim Young-beom said, "First of all, my goal is to win all four events. I think there will be fierce competition in the 100m freestyle, but I will not give in and do my best."

Last year, when Kim Young-beom entered the corporate world, he competed in five events at the National Sports Festival and won four gold medals and one silver medal.

This year, we will attempt to win four awards for the second year in a row.