Na-yeon Park (Wonju City Hall) set a new Korean record in the women's 1,500m for the first time in 34 years at the 2026 Hawken Distance Challenge competition. Na-yeon Park was the first to cross the finish line at the women's 1,500m held in Shibetsu, Japan on the 18th with a time of 4 minutes 13.87 seconds. She broke the Korean record (4 minutes 14.18 seconds) set by Mi-kyung Lee (then Yubong Girls' High School) in 1992. It was a moment of advancement by 0.31 seconds for the first time in 34 years. Na-yeon Park, who had shown good performance since last year, finally engraved her name in history by writing a new Korean record. After the game, Na-yeon Park said through the Korea Athletics Federation, “There were times when it was so hard that I wanted to give up in front of the goal of breaking the Korean record, but I was able to overcome it thanks to the strong faith of coach Young-hoon Yoo and coach Jin-il Lee.” She added, “They helped me maintain my mentality in difficult moments. “I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my family and colleagues,” he said, adding, “I will not rest on my laurels, but will continue to challenge myself to achieve higher goals in the future.” Meanwhile, Na-yeon Park ranked 15th in the women’s 15th place at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games to be held in September.