Swimmer Park takes one title, plenty of lessons from world championships

(News Focus)SHANGHAI, July 28 (Yonhap) -- South Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan may have won just one title at the FINA World Aquatics Championships here this week, but he is taking away much more from China than a lone gold medal. Park ended his world championships on Wednesday, when he failed to reach the final for the 100-meter freestyle race by finishing 14th among 16 swimmers in the semifinal. He won the 400-節?eter free title on Sunday and finished fourth in the 200-節?eter free on Tuesday. After his 100-節?eter semifinal Wednesday evening, the 21-year-old swimmer said the Shanghai event had been a good learning experience for him, especially with the London Olympics just about a year away. "The championships here made me realize what I am lacking," he said. "I will build from here on. I needed better starts and turns, and my race management left something to be desired. But all of this will form a good foundation for my future training." The 400-節?eter victory was a measure of redemption for Park. He won the 2007 world title and the 2008 Olympic gold in that event but failed to make the final at the 2009 world championships in Rome. Though he did win the 400-節?eter free at the 2010 Asian Games last fall, Park needed a bigger prize on a global stage to complete his career turnaround. And he earned it with an impressive final swim highlighted by a torrid finish that placed him more than a full second ahead of the runner-up, Sun Yang of China. Park's winning time was 3 minutes, 42.04 seconds, a little slower than his personal best of 3:41.53. He said his best is yet to come. "If I just train hard each and every day, I should be able to put up a better time in the 400-節?eter free (in London) than this week," he said. "It seems like the Beijing Olympics were held just a couple of days ago, but three years have passed. I think the remaining year (until the London Games) will zip past pretty quickly." Park said the close call in the 200-節?eter free was his most disappointing moment. He was fourth at 1:44.92 and was only 0.04 second behind the third-place Paul Biedermann of Germany. Ryan Lochte of the U.S., the 200-meter winner, was only 0.48 second faster than the South Korean. In the 200-節?eter final, Park was the fastest into the pool, but taller and stronger swimmers were able to charge past him once they were underwater. By the midway point, Park had fallen to sixth among eight. Park had the fastest time over the final 50-節?eter split but that still wasn't enough to put him on the podium. In the 400-節?eter, Park can rely on his spurts to catch up after falling behind in early splits. He doesn't have that luxury in the 200-節?eter or 100-節?eter. "I did my best and I have no regrets," Park said. "It was not a bad race, but my poor start and turns created such a big gap that I couldn't make up ground." At 183 centimeters tall, Park is among the shortest freestyle sprinters. Sun Yang, considered Park's main rival in the 400-節?eter, is listed at 198cm. Biedermann is 10cm taller than Park. Michael Phelps, second in the 200-節?eter, is also 1cm taller than Park. Even Lochte, considered small among his brethren, is 5cm taller. To make up for such physical differences, Park said he will need to improve his turns and his ability to stay closer to the bigger swimmers over the first 20 to 25 meters. Park said he will watch the video of the 200-meter medalists -- Lochte, Phelps and Biedermann -- and try to learn from them, too. Park made a last-minute decision to enter 100-節?eter freestyle, buoyed by his win over Phelps in a California meet in June, and this was his first 100-節?eter appearance in three career world championships. No Asian man has even reached the final of 100-節?eter free at the world championships, and Park apparently didn't have high expectations of himself. "I was more focused on improving my time than trying to win a medal (in the 100-節?eter free)," Park said. "I was disappointed that I couldn't come in faster, but this (48.86 in the semifinal) is still my best time this year. It will help with my training in the future." Park said he will forgo the 100-節?eter in London to concentrate on the 200-節?eter and 400-節?eter and added his training for 100-節?eter should help him in the two other events. Having won two world titles, an Olympic gold and six Asian Games gold medals, Park is focused on doing something he's never done: setting a world record. "I'd definitely like to do it before my career is over," he said. The 400-節?eter free world record is 3:40.07, compared to Park's personal best of 3:41.53, and the 200-節?eter free mark is 1:42.00, whereas Park's best-ever time is 1:44.80. Both were set by Biedermann at the 2009 world championships during the height of the high-tech swimsuit frenzy, when polyurethane suits -- since banned -- were credited with producing 43 world records overall at the event. Park, who has never donned such a suit, said he put up record times in splits while training for Shanghai and he wanted to set one this week. "I had a great experience before London," he said. "I am going to try to break world records there."