The South Korean team secured gold medals in modern pentathlon and techball on September 20, marking the start of the medal race at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. Seong Seung-min (Korea National Sport University) won the first-ever Asian Games gold medal in women's modern pentathlon for South Korea, while the men's team achieved back-to-back victories in the team event. In techball, which was officially included in the competition for the first time, Lee Jun-seok became the inaugural men's singles champion.
Seong Seung-min clinched the first gold medal of the day. Competing in the women's modern pentathlon final at Anjo Sports Park in Aichi, Japan, she scored a total of 1,492 points across fencing, obstacle course, swimming, and laser run events.
This victory marks the first time a South Korean woman has won an individual gold medal in modern pentathlon at the Asian Games. Previously, the best results were silver medals won by Yang Soo-jin in the 2014 Incheon Games, Kim Se-hee in the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games, and Kim Sun-woo in the 2022 Hangzhou Games.
Seong, who won a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, added another record to her achievements at the Asian Games. She led from the start, scoring 250 points in fencing to rank first overall, followed by a personal best of 29.26 seconds in the obstacle course for 358 points. In swimming, she added 295 points with a time of 1:01.14, maintaining her lead. In the final laser run, starting 18 seconds ahead of the second-place competitor, Seong crossed the finish line first.
After the competition, Seong expressed her happiness, stating, "I was the first in Paris Olympics, and now I have this title again. I am very happy. This is a significant moment as the first gold medal for the South Korean team. I hope our athletes will achieve great results in future competitions."
In the men's category, the team event also brought home a gold medal. The combined scores of Jeon Woong-tae (Gangwon Provincial Sports Council), Seo Chang-wan (Jeonnam Provincial Office), and Lee Jong-hyun (Daejeon City Hall) secured victory over China. The team event in modern pentathlon does not involve a separate competition; instead, the top three individual scores from each country are summed to determine the ranking.
The South Korean men's modern pentathlon team achieved back-to-back victories in the team event, following their win at the 2022 Hangzhou Games. Jeon Woong-tae also added a silver medal in the individual event, marking his third consecutive Asian Games with a gold medal, following victories in the individual and team events in 2018 and 2022.
The third gold medal came from the techball event at the Nagoya Higashi Sports Center. Lee Jun-seok defeated Iraq's Ali Jalil Mezeher Alalaywi 2-0 (12-11, 12-5) in the men's singles final. Techball, a game played with a soccer ball over a curved table, was included as an official sport for the first time in this competition. Lee Jun-seok is now recognized as the first men's singles gold medalist in Asian Games techball.
A former soccer player, Lee transitioned to techball after competing in foot volleyball. He had been working as a contract employee in a large company but decided to focus on training after techball was adopted as an official Asian Games sport. With no domestic professional teams available, he financed his training in Hungary, the sport's birthplace.
Lee Jun-seok advanced to the quarterfinals with five wins in the group stage, winning 2-0 in the quarterfinals as well. In the semifinals, he won the first set, but his opponent, Zaid Aidan (Kuwait), was unable to continue due to a thigh injury, allowing Lee to advance to the final. In the final, he secured the first set 12-11 and finished the second set 12-5.
As of the afternoon of September 20, South Korea has won two gold medals in modern pentathlon and one in techball. Seong Seung-min became the first woman to win an individual gold medal in modern pentathlon at the Asian Games, while the men's team achieved back-to-back victories in the team event. Lee Jun-seok claimed the first men's singles gold medal in techball at the Asian Games.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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