[Asian Games] Park Tae-hwan wins third swimming bronze at Asiad

South Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan won the bronze medal in the men's 400-meter freestyle race on Tuesday.

   Park finished the race in 3:48.33, falling behind Sun Yang of China and Kosuke Hagino of Japan. Park came up short of winning his third straight Asian Games gold in this distance.

   Sun won his first gold medal in Incheon with 3:43.23, and Hagino finished second with 3:44.48.

   Park's next individual race will be the 100ｍ freestyle on Thursday.

   This was Park's third bronze of the Asiad and second in individual races. In Sunday's 200ｍ freestyle, he came in third behind Hagino and Sun.

   Park had the fastest reaction time off the blocks with 0.68 second, but Hagino quickly charged out in front. He was in the lead over the first 100ｍ, with Sun and Park closely behind in second and third.

   The race quickly turned into a three-horse battle. Sun claimed the lead at the half-way point in 1:51.86, with Hagino and Park trailing. Then Park overtook the Japanese at the 250ｍ turn and maintained his lead over Hagino until the 300ｍ mark.

   The South Korean, though, badly fell off the pace after that.

He touched the 350ｍ mark in 3:19.94, more than three seconds behind Sun and almost two seconds back of Hagino.

   Sun, the 2012 Olympic champion in this distance, covered his final 50ｍ in 26.44 to hold off Hagino, who failed to become the first athlete in this Asiad to win four gold medals. Park's lap time over the final 50ｍ was a mediocre 28.39.

   Park entered the Asian Games with the world's fastest time in the 400ｍ freestyle in 2014 with 3:43.15, set at the Pan Pacific Championships last month. (Yonhap)