South Korean swimming star Park Tae-hwan secured his third Asian Games berth with ease on Friday, winning the men’s 400-meter freestyle race at the national team trials.

In Gimcheon, about 230 kilometers southeast of Seoul, Park came in first in his signature event with the time of 3:44.75.

It fell short of his personal record of 3:41.53 or his season best time of 3:43.96, but was still good enough to give Park a chance to win his third straight Asiad gold in the 400 freestyle.

The winners of each race here will qualify for this year’s Asian Games, which will be held in the South Korean city of Incheon from Sept. 19 to Oct. 14. Earlier this week, Park qualified for the 200 freestyle and the 200 individual medley.

He won the 2008 Olympic gold medal and the 2012 Olympic silver medal in the 400 freestyle, in addition to world titles in the distance in 2007 and 2011. In the 200 freestyle, Park has won two Olympic silver medals and one world championship bronze medal. (Yonhap)