‘Smile Jumper’ Woo Sang-hyeok (pictured) is the first Korean athlete to challenge for a gold medal at the World Championships in Athletics.
The 2023 World Championships in Athletics will be held in Budapest, Hungary from the 19th (local time) to the 27th. The World Championships in Athletics is one of the world’s four major sporting events along with the Soccer World Cup and the Summer and Winter Olympics. However, it is a high wall for Korea to the extent that no Korean player has ever won a gold medal. Attention is focusing on whether Woo Sang-hyeok, the signboard of the men’s high jump, will be able to jump over this wall.토토사이트
Woo Sang-hyeok became the first Korean athlete to win a silver medal at the World Championships in Athletics last year. He expressed pride in his performance at the time, but said, “It’s too bad that I couldn’t win the gold medal.” Coming back to the world championship stage after a year, he expressed his strong aspirations, saying, “I will return to the gold medal I entrusted to me.”
Woo Sang-hyeok is one of the favorites for the championship that experts point out. His personal best is 2m36 in indoor competitions and 2m35 in outdoor competitions. Among the 37 men participating in the men’s high jump, those with better outdoor records than Woo Sang-hyeok are Mutaz Esa Barsim (Qatar, 2m 43), Andriy Prochenko (Ukraine, 2m 40), Jean Marco Tamberry (Italy, 2m 39), Donald There are six people, including Thomas (Bahamas, 2m37), Jubon Harrison (USA, 2m36), and Brandon Stark (Australia, 2m36). However, many experts predict that the competition to win this tournament will be a three-way match between Barshim, Harrison, and Woo Sang-hyeok.
Woo Sang-hyeok, who won last year’s Belgrade World Indoor Championships over 2m34, will leave his name as the 6th athlete ever to win both the World Indoor and Outdoor World Championships if he wins this event. In addition, if he climbs to the podium at this event, he will set a new milestone of winning medals at the World Championships for the first time in Korea for the first time in a row.
Woo Sang-hyeok, who currently weighs 67 kg, plans to lose another 2 kg at the World Championships. He said, “I managed my weight so well that I thought, ‘If I endured this much, I should win the gold medal.’” He expressed his confidence, saying, “He is confident that he will produce results.” Woo Sang-hyeok will hold the preliminary round at 5:35 pm on the 20th and the final at 2:55 am on the 23rd, Korean time.
In addition to Woo Sang-hyeok, Ko Seung-hwan in the men’s 200m, Kim Jang-woo in the men’s triple jump, and Jeong Yoo-sun in the women’s shot put will be on the world championship stage for the first time in their lives. Among them, Jeong Yu-seon, who won the gold medal at the Asian Indoor Championships for the first time as a Korean player, will challenge for a ‘surprising’ medal.