Kim Woo-min competes in the heats for the men's 400-meter freestyle swimming event at the Paris Olympics at Paris La Defense Arena in Nanterre, France, July 27. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Kim Woo-min claimed the bronze medal in the men's 400-meter freestyle swimming at the Paris Olympics on Saturday, becoming just the second Korean swimmer to have reached an Olympic podium.

Kim finished third with a time of 3:42.50 at Paris La Defense Arena in Nanterre, just west of Paris, giving Korea its second medal of this Olympics.

Lukas Maertens of Germany grabbed the gold medal in 3:41.78 after leading the race the entire way. Elijah Winnington of Australia took home the silver medal in 3:42.21, after trailing Kim most of the way and then nipping him at the finish.

This was the very first medal race in swimming at the Paris Olympics.

Kim, the 2024 world champion in the 400m freestyle, has joined Park Tae-hwan, a four-time medalist, as the only two Korean swimmers with an Olympic medal.

Park won the 400m freestyle gold in 2008 and then won silver in that event in 2012. He also added silver medals in the 200m freestyle in 2008 and 2012.

Kim swam in Lane 1, after squeezing into the final as the seventh-fastest among the eight qualifiers from the heats in the morning.

But as he had done so in the heats, Kim had the fastest reaction time at the start with 0.62 second, but Maertens beat him to the 50m pad by 0.16 second at 24.84.

Kim Woo-min celebrates after winning the bronze medal in the men's 400-meter freestyle swimming event at the Paris Olympics at Paris La Defense Arena in Nanterre, France, July 27. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Maertens and Kim kept leading the way, while both managed to stay on a world record pace. At the halfway mark, Kim trailed the German by 0.31 second.

But the gap grew to 0.45 over the next 50m. Then with 50m remaining, Kim found himself 0.83 second behind Maertens.

Winnington, in fourth place at the 350m mark, kicked into a new gear to leapfrog countryman Samuel Short and Kim at the finish. Winnington had the fastest split over the final 50m at 27.33 seconds. Kim covered the home stretch in 28.14 seconds, while Maertens came home in 28.25 seconds and still beat Winnington by 0.43 second.

Kim fell 0.08 shy of matching his personal best, set in an Olympic tuneup event in June. Park's national record of 3:41.53, set in November 2010, also remained safe.

Kim will next compete in the 200m freestyle and take part in the 4x200m freestyle relay. He had also qualified for the 800m freestyle and the 1,500m freestyle, but pulled out of both to focus on the shorter distance races and relay. (Yonhap)

Kim Woo-min takes his photo taken with other medalists during the Paris Olympics at Paris La Defense Arena in Nanterre, France, July 27. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul