Kim Young-taek (Jeju-do), the second of the “Diving Trio,” has become the first South Korean swimmer to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Kim finished eighth in the semifinals of the men’s 10-meter diving platform at the Fukuoka 2023 World Aquatics Championships at the Fukuoka Prefectural Pool in Fukuoka, Japan, on Wednesday with a total of 425.90 points in the first through sixth heats, punching his ticket to the final, which is reserved for the top 12 finishers.
The 10-meter diving platform is an Olympic event.
Twelve tickets to the Paris Olympics are up for grabs in the men’s 10-meter diving platform, and Kim Young-taek secured his spot with a stunning performance.
With his first goal accomplished, Kim will attempt to improve on his best-ever South Korean performance in the men’s 10-meter platform (6th place at the 2019 Gwangju Games) in the final at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 22.
Kim finished 11th out of 40 in the preliminaries earlier in the day to advance to the 18-man semifinals.
In the semifinals, he jumped three spots to finish in eighth place.
In his third period, Kim executed a difficulty level 3.6 207B with a three-and-a-half-lap pike with his back to the pool, legs extended and arms holding his legs, earning a score of 81.00. This was good for third place in the third period alone.
Moving up to 11th overall after the third period, Kim finished the semifinals in eighth place with high scores on his fifth period (5255B), which included a twist, a forward dive into a reverse position, and a three-and-a-half rotation of a 307C with a tuck to grab the underside of the leg with the knees folded.
Kim’s older brother, Kim Young-nam, and younger brother, Kim Young-ho, are also divers.
At the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Kim Young-taek and Kim Young-nam competed together in the main event.
At the Fukuoka World Championships, only Kim Young-taek competed, reaching the final of his main event, the 10-meter platform, and booking his second consecutive trip to the Olympics.
Kim first competed at the World Championships in 2019 in Gwangju as a high schooler, finishing 38th on the 10-meter platform.
At the Tokyo Olympics, he finished 15th in the event.
He did not compete at last year’s World Championships in Budapest.
In his second world championships, Kim qualified for his second Olympic Games.
With ‘diving sensation’ Woo Haram focusing on springboards, 카지노사이트킴 Kim stepped up as South Korea’s ‘platform man’ and lived up to his title in Fukuoka.
Lee Jae-kyung (Gwangju Metropolitan Government), who qualified 17th, finished 14th in the semifinals, just missing out on a spot in the final.
Lee will return to action at the Continental Championships and the World Championships in Doha, Qatar, in February 2024 to try and secure a spot at the Paris Olympics.