Ji Yu-chan's 50m Freestyle Title Defense at the 2026 Asiad
Ji Yu-chan swims the men's 50m freestyle heats and final on the same day at the 2026 Asian Games, September 20 at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, and the swimmer he's racing is himself. "I see nerves as part of the race itself, so the more nervous I get, the more I focus on what I can control," he told Segye Ilbo on September 16, days before defending the Asiad title he won in Hangzhou three years ago. He's specific about where that speed comes from. "I think my strength is the early acceleration from the dive through the dolphin kick," he said in the same interview. He named a specific weakness too: "I still think I fall short on holding the speed I build early through to the back half of the race." The record he's chasing is his own At the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, Ji won the 50m freestyle in 21.72 seconds, a Games record and Korea's first swimming gold of that meet , by MBC's account. He's back at the Asiad going for a secon...