He's Korea's newest golden boy. After taking home three gold medals at the Doha Asian Games in 2006, Park Tae-hwan rewrote Korean swimming history yet again by snagging a gold medal on Sunday at the World Championships in Australia.

Until now Korea's best results in the World Championships was a seventh place ranking, meaning Park's victory is all the more remarkable.

Park posted 3:44.30 in the 400m freestyle finals in Melbourne, beating Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia who came in at 3:45.12 and Grant Hackett of Australia who finished at 3:45.43. Park was four seconds shy of the world record of 3:40.08 set by Australia's Ian Thorpe.

Park Tae-hwan celebrates after winning the men's 400m freestyle swimming final at the World Swimming Championships in Melbourne on Sunday./Reuteurs-Yonhap

Park marked 3:45.82 in the preliminaries, in second place after Peter Vanderkaay of the U.S. who marked 3:45.82, and started the race in the fifth lane in the final match. Park turned into the last lap in fourth place but flashed ahead in a shock surge near the 50-meter mark. His finish shaved one minute and 42 seconds from the Asian world record he set at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships last year.

It was a big upset for Hackett who was believed to be the world's best in the 400m freestyle. "I was startled when Hackett pulled forward in the beginning of the race, but my pacing sped up in the last part of the race for a good finish," Park said. "But I've got to forget about today's match and do my best in the 200m freestyle tomorrow."

Park may increase Korea's chances for gold in the Beijing Olympic games next year. He is the first Korean to win a medal in the World Swimming Championships.

(englishnews@chosun.com )