Woo Sang-hyuk beats 'Olympic Champion' Kerr to win World Indoor Championships
Woo Sang-hyuk beats 'Olympic Champion' Kerr to win World Indoor Championships
Blog Article
"Smile Jumper" Woo Sang-hyuk (28, Yongin City Hall) defeated "Paris Olympic Champion" Hamish Kerr (New Zealand) to regain the top of the World Indoor Athletics Championships in three years.
Woo Sang-hyuk won the men's high jump final at the 2025 World Indoor Championships held at Nanjing Youth Olympic Sports Park in China on the 21st, exceeding 2m31.
Woo Sang-hyuk, the 2022 Belgrade Championship champion (2m34) ranked third (2m28) at last year's Glasgow Games.
This year, Woo Sang-hyuk regained the title of "World Indoor Championship Champion" in three years and two competitions by climbing back to the top of the podium in Nanjing.
Woo Sang-hyuk was also recorded as a "three-time consecutive medalist at the World Indoor Championships," which was born 11 years after Ivan Ukov (Russia), who won consecutive medals in 2010, 2012, and 2014.
Woo Sang-hyuk, who shouted "Fighting" while performing a ceremony pointing to the national flag during the introduction of the player, crossed 2m14 and 2m20 in the first period with light movements.
In the 2m24, he touched the bar in the first period, but in the second period, he succeeded with a good distance from the bar.
Thirteen people participated in the men's high jump in this competition.
When the bar was raised to 2m28, only six people were left, including Woo Sang-hyuk.
Woo Sang-hyuk roared past the 2m28 in the first period.
There were five players who exceeded 2m28, but only two players, Woo Sang-hyuk and Kerr, succeeded in the first period.
Woo Sang-hyuk, who tied for first place, rose to the sole lead as he passed the first period of 2m31.
Kerr, who won the Paris Olympics (2m36) and the Glasgow World Indoor Championships (2m36) last year, failed in both the first and third periods of 2m31.
Oleh Doroshuk (Ukraine), who holds the world No. 1 record (2m34) this season, also failed to overcome the 2m31m barrier.
Kerr finished second with 2m28.
Raymond Richard (Jamaica), Ilazer Koshiba (USA), and Dorothyuk, who crossed the same 2m28, were ranked 3rd to 5th depending on the number of failures.
When Woo Sang-hyuk was confirmed to win, he did not challenge the higher record and performed a "winning ceremony" with the national flag on.
This year, Woo Sang-hyuk won his first jump of the season at the Hustopecce Indoor Competition in the Czech Republic on February 9 with a 2m31, and on the 19th of the same month, he also won the competition with a 2m28.
He also won the World Indoor Championships, which announced the end of the indoor season, ranking first in all three international competitions held this year.
After winning the 2022 World Indoor Championships, Woo continued his momentum and finished second (2 m35) at the outdoor world championships in Eugene, Oregon, USA in the same year.
Woo Sang-hyuk, who was frustrated for a while by finishing seventh (2m27) at the Paris Olympics last year, said, "I will make a happy jump again this year."
The three competitions that Woo Sang-hyuk considers important this year are the World Indoor Championships, the Gyeongbuk Gumi Asian Athletics Championships in May, and the Tokyo Outdoor World Championships in September.
"My goal is to set high. If I put on the first button well, I can put on the last button well," Woo said after departing for China. "I will continue my momentum through the fall by showing good results at the World Indoor Championships like in 2022." 안전놀이터
As promised, Woo Sang-hyuk will return home on the 22nd with the gold medal around his neck.