Park Tae-hwan wins 400-meter freestyle at world championships

(ATTN: ADDS more details, photo, comments; FIXES reference about Park's world championships in para 4) SHANGHAI, July 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan won the men's 400-meter freestyle race at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships here Sunday. At the Oriental Sports Center, Park finished in 3 minutes, 42.04 seconds. Sun Yang of China was second at 3:43.24, and Paul Biedermann of Germany finished third at 3:44.14. Park had qualified seventh among eight finalists with a heat time of 3:46.74. This was Park's second career world title in this distance, following his victory in 2007. Park came up a little short of his personal-best time of 3:41.53, the gold medal-winning time from last year's Asian Games in Guangzhou, China. Park said he was a little disappointed that he couldn't break the world record of 3:40.07, held by Biedermann, but said he was pleased with his effort. "I wanted the record, but I was so nervous that I just raced without worrying about other swimmers," he said. "I will train even harder to improve. I will break the world record in the near future." Park had the best reaction time in the final with 0.67 seconds off the pad, and had the fastest splits in 50節?, 100m and 150節?. France's Yanick Agnel claimed the lead at the halfway mark, and Park dropped to fourth after 250節?. But the South Korean recovered to lead the field again at 300節? and opened a sizable gap over the final stretch. By finishing seventh in the heats, Park was assigned to the first lane in the final. Though he had been known to deliberately pace himself in heat races to ensure strategic placing in finals, Park expressed surprise this time, saying he'd never raced in the first lane in international events. "Seven others (in the final) were really good swimmers, and when I was assigned the first lane, I was actually shaken," Park said. "I wasn't in top shape in the morning. But from the first lane, I didn't need any specific strategy but to maintain my own tempo." In swimming, the top qualifier is assigned to the fourth lane in the final, with the No. 2 qualifier taking the fifth lane and the No. 3 swimming in the third. Park had often said he would prefer not to swim in the middle lanes flanked by top swimmers. In winning the 400節? title in Guangzhou last year, Park swam in lane No. 2 as only the fifth-fastest qualifier. This time, Park may have coasted a tad too much in his heat race, but he erased any doubts with the resounding victory in the final.