The Korean swimming, diving and artistic swimming team left for Doha, Qatar to participate in the 2024 World Aquatics Championships. Eight representative diving athletes, including Woo Ha-ram (National Sports Promotion Foundation) and Kim Su-ji (Ulsan Metropolitan City Hall), and artistic swimming duet Lee Ri-young (Busan Swimming Federation) and Heo Yun-seo (Apgujeong High School), along with their coaching staff, were at the departure hall of Incheon International Airport on the 27th. went out to The Doha World Aquatics Championships will be held from February 2 to 19, Korean time .Diving and artistic swimming competitions will be held from the 2nd to the 10th of the first half of the competition. The goal of Korean diving and artistic swimming at this competition is to secure a spot at the Paris Olympics .President of the Korean Swimming Federation Jeong Chang-hoon said, “I believe that diving Woo Ha-ram and Kim Su-ji and artistic swimming duet Lee Ri-young and Heo Yun-seo will qualify for the Paris Olympics in Doha. All the athletes have worked hard to prepare for the Doha competition. It is a good event for fans who love Korean swimming. “I expected to hear some news.” Woo Ha-ram, who has been struggling with a back injury since 2022, hopes to use this Doha tournament as an inflection point .At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics held in 2021, Woo Ha-ram ranked 4th in the men’s 3m springboard, his best ever result, fostering the ‘dream of an Olympic medal’ that Korean diving had never imagined before. However, Woo Ha-ram was unable to participate in the 2022 Budapest World Championships due to back pain, and at the 2023 Fukuoka Games, where he was unable to shake off the aftereffects, he finished only 19th in the men’s 3m springboard preliminary round, missing out on a ticket to the semifinals by finishing 18th.
Woo Ha-ram said, “My physical condition is 100% right now. I wasn’t confident that I would be 100% until the Asian Games in Hangzhou last fall, but I can feel that my body has definitely improved since this year.” He added, “I haven’t reached 100% in terms of performance, but I feel uncomfortable at all during training. “There was no harm in doing so. First, I will advance to the 3m springboard finals to secure a spot at the Paris Olympics, and then aim for even better results,” he said .In diving, qualifications for the Paris Olympics are distributed to the National Olympic Committee (NOC) rather than to individual athletes .If Woo Ha-ram advances to the 3m springboard finals (top 12) at the Doha World Championships, Korean diving will virtually secure one spot for the Paris Olympics. There is a high possibility that Korean swimming will grant the right to compete in Paris to athletes who have secured the right to participate .Kim Su-ji, the leading female diving athlete who won a World Aquatics Championships medal (1m springboard bronze medal) for the first time in Gwangju in 2019 as a Korean female athlete, is aiming to advance to the 3m springboard finals at the Doha Games and secure a spot at the Paris Olympics .Kim Su-ji, who also competes in the 1m springboard, women’s synchro 3m springboard, and mixed synchro 3m springboard, said, “I will win an Olympic qualification in the 3m springboard and achieve good results in other events as well,” and added, “I placed 4th in the mixed synchro at the Fukuoka Games last year. “I’m expecting even better results this year,” he said, expressing his desire to win a medal. A total of 18 teams will participate in the artistic swimming duet competition at the Paris Olympics. The 10 countries that qualified for the team event and the 5 teams that won the continental championship will receive the right to participate first, and the remaining tickets will be distributed according to the results of the Doha World Championships.
There is a high possibility that duet groups from countries that have qualified for the team event will enter the top ranks of the World Championships, so if they advance to the finals (top 12) at the Doha World Championships, they will likely be eligible to participate in the Paris Olympics. At last year’s Fukuoka World Championships, Heo Yun-seo ranked 6th in the solo free and Lee Ri-young ranked 9th in the solo technical. The solo event is not an official Olympic event .In the duet technical and free competition, where the two were paired, they both finished in 13th place, missing out on a ticket to the finals where they had earned 12th place .At the Hangzhou Asian Games, he placed 4th and unfortunately failed to stand on the podium. Lee Ri-young and Heo Yun-seo said, “As new regulations were applied to artistic swimming, accuracy of movement became more important. We focused on training on the parts that were points deducted at the Hangzhou Asian Games. Everyone judged that they performed the 180-degree turn perfectly. “We improved the technical aspects so that we could win, and tried not to miss out on the artistic aspects as well. If we do what we have prepared properly, we will be able to qualify for the Paris Olympics,” he said .If Lee Ri-young and Heo Yun-seo’s wishes come true, Korean artistic swimming will be able to compete in the 무료슬롯게임 Olympic finals for the first time in 12 years since the 2012 London Games.