Hwang Sun-woo on the morning of July 29 checks the scoreboard after finishing the final of the men's 100-m freestyle in swimming at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. (Yonhap News) 

By Kim Eun-young and Joung Haseung 

Hwang Sun-woo has rewritten the Asian swimming history books.

On the morning of July 29, he finished fifth in the men's 100-m freestyle final with a time of 47.82 seconds at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

His finish was the highest by an Asian swimmer since Japan's Hiroshi Suzuki won the silver medal at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. 

Hwang's reaction time was 0.58 seconds, the fastest among all eight competitors, but he placed sixth in the first 50 m with 23.12 seconds. He came out strong in the remaining 50 m but touched the pad at 24.70 seconds, or 0.31 behind his time on the previous day. 

The gold went to American Caeleb Dressel, who set an Olympic record with a time of 47.02 seconds. 

Hwang branded himself Asia's best swimmer for this Olympics, and will compete on July 30 in the preliminaries of the men's 50-m freestyle.  

eykim86@korea.kr