Korean national swimmer Lee Joo-ho (30, Seogwipo City Hall) has set a new Korean record in the 200m backstroke.
Lee won the men's 200m backstroke final at the 2025 Hancock Prospecting Queensland Championships in Brisbane, Australia on Thursday with a new Korean record time of 1:55.34.
With this result, Lee improved his previous personal best and long course (50m) Korean record of 1:55.60, set at the 106th Busan National Sports Festival in October, by 0.26 seconds in just two months. The time of 1:55.34 recorded Thursday is faster than the 1:55.37 that Xu Jiayu of China posted when winning gold in the men's 200m backstroke final at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games. At that time, Lee finished 1.17 seconds behind Xu with a then-Korean record of 1:56.54 to claim silver.
Lee is considered the face of Korean men's backstroke. He holds Korean records in the 200m backstroke in both long course and short course (25m), with a short course time of 1:51.24. Through the Korea Swimming Federation, Lee said, "I have surpassed the record of the 2022 Asian Games gold medalist and this is the top time in Asia this year, but I will not be satisfied with this level. My goal is to break into the 1:54 range and win gold at next year's Asian Games."
