Seongjae Cho wins bronze medal in men's 200m breaststroke at Asian Games

A valuable bronze medal in the men's 200m breaststroke at 2:08.76... “Run with the determination that it will be your last time”

(Tokyo = Yonhap News) Reporter Dae-ho Lee = Korean men's breaststroke star Seong-jae Cho (Army Sports Corps), who finally reached the podium in the individual event of the Asian Games after his third attempt, smiled brightly.

Cho Seong-jae won the bronze medal in the men's 200m breaststroke final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at the Tokyo Aquatics Center in Japan on the 24th with a time of 2:08.76, beating fourth place Mac Saiting (Hong Kong, 2:08.77) by just 0.01 seconds.

Cho Seong-jae, whom we met after the game, said, "This is my third Asian Games, and I haven't won a single medal in the individual event so far," and added, "I prepared earnestly with the thought that this was really the last game."

“Although I missed the silver medal (Denis Petrashov, 2 minutes 08.67 seconds) by 0.09 seconds, I am really happy just to be on the podium,” he said, adding, “More than anything, I have not been able to break the 2:08 record for almost six years, and I think my earnestness has finally led to a record and a medal.”

Japan's Shin Ohashi won the race that day, setting a new world record of 2 minutes 04.83 seconds.

Regarding this, Cho Seong-jae said, "Honestly, I never thought I would set a new world record," but he reflected, "But since he was such a fast athlete, I decided to exclude him from the race plan from the beginning and focus only on my pace. The race went well as planned, and I held on well in the second half without being stopped."

Cho Seong-jae, who has led the Korean breaststroke race along with his domestic breaststroke rival Choi Dong-yeol (Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province), now turns his attention to a bigger stage.

Cho Seong-jae said, “Recovering the record of 2:08 is the biggest achievement,” and added, “My goal is to continue this momentum by winning two gold medals at next year’s Military World Championships and to participate in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.”