The Korea Herald

피터빈트

Modern pentathlete Kim Sun-woo wins silver for S. Korea's 1st medal in Hangzhou

By Yonhap

Published : Sept. 24, 2023 - 13:45

    • Link copied

South Korea's Kim Sun-woo (left) competes in the women's individual modern pentathlon at Fuyang Yinhu Sports Centre in Hangzhou during the 19th Asian Games on Sunday. (Yonhap) South Korea's Kim Sun-woo (left) competes in the women's individual modern pentathlon at Fuyang Yinhu Sports Centre in Hangzhou during the 19th Asian Games on Sunday. (Yonhap)

South Korean modern pentathlete Kim Sun-woo won silver for the country's first medal at the 19th Asian Games on Sunday.

Kim scored 1,386 points in total to take home the silver medal in the final of the women's individual modern pentathlon at Fuyang Yinhu Sports Centre in Hangzhou at the ongoing summer Asian Games.

She finished 20 points behind Chinese Zhang Mingyu, while China's Bian Yufei took bronze with 1,374 points.

Kim's silver was her third consecutive Asian Games medal, following her team gold in 2014 and individual bronze in 2018.

Her three other teammates -- Kim Se-hee, Seong Seung-min and Jang Ha-eun -- finished 11th, 12th and 13th, respectively. The three athletes earned zero points each in riding as they failed to complete the 12-obstacle course and couldn't make up the deficit.

Modern pentathlon is a sport that involves five different events: fencing, swimming, equestrian, and a final combined event of pistol shooting and running, which is now called the laser run.

Meanwhile, in the team event, where the combined score of the top three athletes from a country determines the rankings, South Korea took bronze with 3,574 points after host China with 4,094 and Japan with 3,705.

It is South Korea's fourth podium finish in the women's modern pentathlon team event at the Asiad. The country won the team gold in the 2014 edition.

In Hangzhou, Kim Sun-woo started the show-jumping competition after finishing second in the first round of fencing held in advance with 255 points. She earned 299 points there as she completed the course in 63.46 seconds.

In the bonus fencing round, Kim failed to add a point as she lost to Alise Fakhrutdinova from Uzbekistan. Then, she took 283 points in 200-meter swimming, touching the panel fourth among 18 participants at 2:13.61.

Despite starting the laser run 16 seconds behind the then leader Bian of China, Kim soon passed her. But Kim was outpaced by Zhang and reached the finish line after the Chinese. (Yonhap)