On November 13, the KAIST swimming team KAORI ranked first and second place in men’s and women’s competitions, respectively, in the 29th Korea University Swimming Championships. KAIST saw success over Korea’s best sporting universities such as Korea National Sports University, Yonsei University, Yongin University, and Seoul National University. The competition was hosted by the Korea Swimming Federation and held at Gimcheon Indoor Swimming Pool on November 12 and 13. A total of 650 swimmers participated from over 30 universities and raced in one of two divisions — Division 1 for professional swimmers and Division 2 for regular students. KAORI, which comprises both undergraduate and graduate students, participated in Division 2.
In the individual competitions, the team won a total of three gold, two silver, and two bronze medals. Emily Yap and Justin Kim each won a gold medal in the 50m Backstroke and the 200m Individual Medley, respectively, both setting championship records. Yap also won another gold medal in the 100m Freestyle, and was thus chosen as the MVP of the competition. Silver medals were won by Justin Kim in the 50m Freestyle and Donghyun Lee in the 100m Backstroke. Jonghyun Song and Mingyu Kim each won a bronze medal in the 200m Individual Medley and 100m Breaststroke, respectively. In the team competitions, KAORI won two gold medals in the Men’s Medley Relay and Men’s Freestyle Relay, along with a bronze medal in the Women’s Medley Relay.
Established in 1992, KAORI continues its 30-year tradition of representing KAIST in diverse swimming competitions held in Korea. KAORI is known for its rigorous recruiting process, with some of its most important values being hard work and consistency in training. KAORI’s team captain Haewon Lee said, “The Korea University Swimming Championships is one of the most important events for our club and it is our first win in the men’s competition since 2015. Personally, I think it will be my last year as a club member; having joined in 2015, I am very glad for setting great results at both the start and end of my experience in KAORI.”