South Korean high jumper Woo Sang-hyeok grabbed the bronze medal at the world indoor championships in Scotland on Sunday, coming up short in his title defense.
Woo jumped 2.28 meters to finish third at the World Athletics Indoor Championships at Emirates Arena in Glasgow. Hamish Kerr of New Zealand won the gold medal at 2.36m, and Shelby McEwen of the United States took home the silver medal with 2.28m.
McEwen had the tiebreaker over Woo after clearing 2.24m in one attempt, compared to Woo’s three.
Woo was trying to join Javier Sotomayor (1993 and 1995) and Stefan Holm (2001, 2003 and 2004) as the only male high jumpers to win consecutive world indoor titles. Woo won his 2022 world indoor gold medal in Serbia by clearing 2.34m.
He entered this year’s competition as the co-owner of the season-best record of 2.33m, tied with McEwen. In the absence of two all-time greats, Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar and Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy, Woo had been regarded as a strong title favorite in Glasgow.
However, Woo di
dn’t come close to matching his season best and barely avoided early elimination.
Woo began the final by jumping the bar set at 2.20m in one attempt. He survived a scare when he needed the maximum three tries to go over 2.24m and stay alive.
It took Woo two jumps to clear the bar at 2.28m. McEwen also jumped 2.28m in two tries.
With nine of the 12 finalists eliminated, Woo and McEwen trailed Kerr, who soared to the lead after clearing his season-best 2.28m in a single attempt.
Woo was the first of the remaining trio to go for 2.31m but failed when the back of his thighs touched the bar. Kerr again needed just one attempt to jump 2.31m, staying perfect and improving on his season best. McEwen couldn’t keep pace with the leader.
Both Woo and McEwen were pushed to the brink after their second straight miss. And Woo became the first of the three to be eliminated when he couldn’t go over 2.31m in his third and final attempt.
McEwen took his chance at 2.34m but failed. With the gold medal secured, Kerr went f
or 2.36m and succeeded in two attempts to cap his impressive afternoon.
Woo, 27, is gearing up for his first career Olympic medal in Paris this summer. Since finishing fourth at the previous Summer Games in Tokyo three years ago, Woo has been on a strong run that includes the 2022 world indoor title, 2022 world outdoor silver medal, 2023 Diamond League Final gold medal and 2023 Asian Games silver medal.
Source: Yonhap News Agency