Star swimmer Park Tae-hwan has made it into the quarterfinals at the New South Wales State Open Championships under way in Sydney, Australia.

He finished the men's 400-meter freestyle event early Friday morning with a time of three minutes 52 seconds on the tournament's first day at Sydney Olympic Park. Park’s time was the best of all 59 swimmers who partook in the event.

It was the 21-year-old’s first official match in six months since his poor performance at the Rome championships last summer.

The 400-meter freestyle is Park's specialty. He won gold in the event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the world championships in Melbourne.