‘Smile Jumper’ Woo Sang-hyuk (Yongin City Hall) ended his bid for a second consecutive World Championships medal with a disappointing finish.
Woo cleared 2.29 meters in the men’s high jump final at the 2023 World Athletics Championships at the Budapest National Stadium in Budapest, Hungary, on Wednesday to finish sixth. 토토사이트
At last year’s World Championships in Eugene, Woo cleared 2.35 meters to finish second, the highest finish in Korean athletics history. It was no surprise that he was the favorite in Budapest.
Woo cleared 2.20, 2.25 and 2.29 in the first round, putting him in contention for a medal, but a first round failure at 2.33 halted his momentum.
After four athletes cleared 2.33m in the first round – Jean-Marco Tamberi (ITA), Jubon Harrison (USA), Mutaz Essa Barshim (QAT) and Luis Enrique Sayas (CUB) – Woo raised the bar to 2.36m without further challenge.
Woo made two more attempts to tie his Korean record (indoor) of 2.36m, but touched the bar repeatedly. Tobias Portier (GER), 28, cleared 2.33 in his second attempt, relegating Woo to sixth place at 2.29.
Meanwhile, in the day’s competition, Tambéry cleared 2.36m in the first phase to beat Harrison in the second phase. Tambéry attempted 2.40m to improve on his personal best (2.39m) but failed to clear the bar. Barshim, who won three consecutive world titles in London in 2017, Doha in 2019 and Eugene in 2022, was third at 2.33.