19TH ASIAN GAMES
- Sunday, September 24th – Friday, September 29th (swimming)
- Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Aquatic Sports Arena, Hangzhou, China
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- Entries
- Results
- Day 2 Finals Live Recap
- Day 3 Finals Live Recap
- Day 4 Finals Live Recap
- Day 5 Finals Live Recap
The men’s 50m butterfly final was among the events on tonight’s agenda for the penultimate finals session of the 19th Asian Games. And, for the first time in this competition, the host nation of China found itself off the podium.
Getting to the wall first in the men’s 50m fly was Korea’s Baek Inchul, with the 23-year-old clinching gold in a time of 23.29. That effort represented a new Games Record, overtaking his own mark of 23.39 produced in the morning heats. Prior to that, the meet mark stood at the 23.46 China’s Shi Yang logged at the 2014 edition of the meet.
For his part, Baek’s career-quickest result entering this competition stood at the 23.50 he posted both in March of this year, as well as in the heats of the event at the 2023 World Championships. There in Fukuoka, Baek ultimately placed 23rd.
Behind Baek this evening was Teong Tzen Wei of Singapore who touched in 23.34 for silver while Kazaksthan’s Adilbek Mussin bagged bronze in 24.44.
The highest-finishing Chinese swimmer in tonight’s 50m fly final was Wang Changdao who placed 4th in 23.46. Wang already snagged silver in the 100m butterfly earlier in the competition.
As mentioned, this men’s 50m fly event represents the sole race of the entire Games thus far on both the men’s and women’s sides that did not have a Chinese athlete land on the podium.
Signaling China’s dominance at these Asian Games, the only other events in which the nation did not capture gold or silver include the men’s 50m free (Pan Zhanle, bronze), men’s 400m IM (Wang Shun, bronze) and women’s 100m breast (Yang Chang, bronze).