Park Tae-hwan reaches final in 200-meter freestyle one day after ruling debacle

South Korean swimming star Park Tae-hwan on Sunday reached the final of men's 200-meter freestyle, barely 24 hours removed from a ruling debacle surrounding his 400ｍ race.

Park finished third among eight qualifiers at 1 minute and 46.02 seconds. Sun Yang of China, the 400ｍ free champion from Saturday, won the heat at 1:45.61, followed by Yannick Agnel of France 0.23 seconds behind.

Park was the silver medalist behind Michael Phelps in 200ｍ free at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Phelps is not racing in 200ｍ in London.

The 22-year-old Korean is coming off a silver medal race in 400ｍ freestyle Saturday. But he almost never got the chance to race in the final. 

After Park finished at the top of his heat earlier Saturday, officials ruled that he had committed a false start and disqualified the reigning Olympic champ. But South Korean officials appealed the decision, and Park was later reinstated by FINA, the sport's global governing body, in a dramatic turnabout.

The final for the 200ｍ free is set for Monday, while the 1,500ｍ free heat is on Friday, with the final to follow the next day.

Park's personal best is 1:44.80 set at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games. The world record of 1:42.00 was set by Paul Biedermann of Germany at the 2009 world championships.

After securing his semifinal berth earlier Sunday, Park said he would try to forget about Saturday's events and would look ahead to his remaining races. (Yonhap News)