Woo Sang-hyeok eyes historic gold at Tokyo championships

South Korean high jumper Woo Sang-hyuk will challenge for South Korea’s first world championship gold in athletics. Having won all seven international competitions this season, the 29-year-old is a strong favorite for the men’s high jump title at the World Athletics Championships, which opens Sept. 13 in Tokyo, Japan. Among the 38 participants, Woo has the best outdoor performance this season. At the World Athletics Diamond League in Monaco in July, he cleared 2.34 meters, setting his season’s best.

The Tokyo National Stadium, which will host the championship, is the same venue where Woo achieved his dream of setting a Korean record at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Before the Olympics, Woo had not cleared the qualifying standard of 2.33 meters. On the final day when ranking points were recognized, he surpassed 2.31 meters at an event organized by the Korea Association of Athletics Federations, ranking 31st and securing one of the 32 tickets to Tokyo. Making his Olympic debut dramatically, Woo set a Korean record of 2.35 meters in the final, finishing in a surprising fourth place.

Riding a wave of momentum after the Olympics, Woo won South Korea’s first gold medal at the 2022 World Indoor Championships in Belgrade with a jump of 2.34 meters. Later that year, at the Eugene World Championships, he cleared 2.35 meters to win South Korea’s first silver medal at the event. Mutaz Barshim, 34, of Qatar, who had won three consecutive world championships with a record of 2.37 meters, has managed only 2.13 meters this season. World Athletics noted, “This could be the first world championships since the 2011 Daegu event in which Barshim does not appear on the medal list.”

Woo is expected to compete for the title against his close friend and same-age rival, Hamish Kerr of New Zealand, who won gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Woo finished seventh at Paris with a 2.27-meter jump. In March, at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, Woo cleared 2.31 meters to beat Kerr, who placed second with 2.28 meters. Last month, Kerr won the Diamond League final with a jump of 2.32 meters while Woo was absent due to a calf injury.

The men’s high jump qualifying round at the Tokyo World Championships will be held on Sept. 14, with the final on Sept. 16.


Bo-Mi Im bom@donga.com