‘Smile Jumper’ Woo Sang-hyeok advanced to the men’s high jump final at the 2022 Eugene World Championships in Athletics.
It is the first time in 23 years since Jintaek Lee in Seville in 1999 that he succeeded in advancing to the final of the World Championships in the Korean athletics high jump. Jintaek Lee finished sixth in the finals at the time.
Woo Sang-hyeok advanced to the final in the men’s high jump qualifier at the World Athletics Championships held at Eugene Hayward Field, Oregon, USA today (16th) in our time over 2m28 and tied for first place.
Woo Sang-hyuk succeeded in the 2m17, 2m21, 2m25, and 2m28 all in the first round. As a ‘winner’, Woo Sang-hyuk leisurely crossed the bar and performed a unique ceremony.
The record for automatic participation in the final was 2m30, but 13 finalists including a tie for 12th in 2m28 were determined and the preliminaries ended.
With Woo Sang-hyuk, there were only four athletes who completed the preliminary round without failing once, including Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Bashim from Qatar, Canada’s Jango Lovett, and Ukraine’s Andrii Prochenko.
Italy’s Tamberry, who tied for first place at the Tokyo Olympics with Bashim, passed both the 2m25 and 2m28 in the 3rd round, passing the qualifiers with 11th place.
Woo Sang-hyeok will challenge for the first world championship in Korean track and field history in the final to be held on the 19th at 9:45 am Korean time.
[사진 출처 : AP=연합뉴스]