Ha Jee-min Wins Fourth Asian Games Sailing Gold in Aichi-Nagoya

South Korean sailor Ha Jee-min won the men's dinghy title at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Friday, adding a fourth Asian Games gold medal to a career that has spanned more than a decade at the top of the event.

Ha finished first at Kaiyoh Yacht Harbor in Gamagori, about 50 kilometers southeast of Nagoya, to deliver South Korea's first sailing gold medal of the ongoing Games. Hong Kong's Halliday Nicholas Bezy claimed silver, while Malaysia's Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy took bronze.

The victory restored Ha to the top of the Asian Games podium after he earned silver at the previous edition. He had previously won the men's event at the 2010, 2014 and 2018 Games, making Friday's result his fourth gold and fifth consecutive medal in Asian Games competition.

Ha entered the deciding stage in a strong position after leading the opening series. In the dinghy format, sailors receive points corresponding to their finishing places, with lower totals producing the better overall ranking. After nine opening races, the 10 lowest-scoring sailors advanced to a two-race final, and each competitor was permitted to discard the worst score from the series.

In the final, Ha placed third in the first race and sixth in the second. He completed the competition with nine points and no penalty points. Halliday won one final race and finished third in the other, but his overall total reached 11 points after seven penalty points were included, leaving Ha with the title.

The result is a significant addition to South Korea's campaign in Japan and underlines Ha's unusual longevity in a discipline shaped by changing winds, tactical positioning and consistency across multiple races. His four-gold record stretches from Guangzhou in 2010 through Incheon in 2014 and Jakarta-Palembang in 2018 to Aichi-Nagoya in 2026.

For South Korea's sailing team, the medal also provides a breakthrough at this edition of the continental competition. Ha began the final as the leader and protected that advantage over the last two races, converting his opening-series consistency into the country's first sailing championship of the Games. His ability to absorb a sixth-place result in the last race reflected the value of the advantage he had built through the earlier stages.