4th Place Surpassing Korean National Record 2m35 in Finals
Best Ever Ranking for Korea in Olympic Athletics Track & Field
Woo Sang-hyeok (25, Armed Forces Athletic Corps) has raised hope for Korean athletics. He not only broke the Korean record in men's high jump but also changed the highest ranking record for Korean athletics track & field in the Olympics.
On the 1st, at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics men's high jump final held at Tokyo Olympic Stadium, Woo Sang-hyeok cleared 2m35 and finished 4th. He surpassed his personal best of 2m33 and even broke the 2m34 set by Lee Jin-taek in 1997 at the National Championships.
Woo Sang-hyeok showed excellent condition from the start. He cleared 2m19, 2m24, 2m27, and 2m30 all on his first attempts. Before the Olympics, his personal best was 2m31. Woo succeeded in clearing 2m33, 2cm higher, after two attempts. Then, he cleared 2m35 on his first attempt, setting a new milestone in Korean athletics history.
He immediately raised the bar to 2m37 but failed on his first attempt. When three competitors cleared 2m37, he raised his target to 2m39. However, he touched the bar on both his second and third attempts and finished the competition in 4th place.
Although he did not win a medal, Woo Sang-hyeok achieved significant results. On the 30th of last month, he jumped 2m28 in the qualifiers and advanced to the final in 9th place. It was the first time in 25 years since Lee Jin-taek in men's high jump in 1996 that a Korean athletics track & field athlete reached the Olympic final. Woo did not stop there and made new history for Korean athletics. He achieved the highest ranking ever for Korean Olympic athletics track & field. The previous best results were 8th place by Kim Jong-il in men's long jump at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Kim Hee-sun in women's high jump at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, and Lee Jin-taek in high jump at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
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