'Smile Jumper' Woo Sang-hyuk (29, Yongin City Hall) won a silver medal at the 2025 Tokyo World Athletics Championships.
Woo Sang-hyuk jumped 2m34 in the men's high jump final at the 2025 Tokyo World Athletics Championships held at Tokyo National Stadium on the 16th, ranking second after Hamish Kerr (New Zealand), who succeeded 2m36 in the first period. He jumped 2m34 ahead of Kerr to gain an advantageous position for the gold medal, but Woo Sang-hyuk failed in the first period of 2m36, and Kerr succeeded immediately in the first period and took the gold medal again.
Woo Sang-hyuk immediately went for the 2m38 challenge, but he failed to cross the bar in the end, and even though he failed to exceed 2m38, he confirmed the gold medal with a record of 2m36. The bronze medal went to Jan Stefela of the Czech Republic, who crossed the 2m31. Woo Sang-hyuk and Kerr, who were born in 1996, showed warm sportsmanship cheering each other with applause until the end in a fiercely contested world of 1cm. Even at the regrettable moment of missing the gold medal, the smile jumper did not lose his smile.
Woo Sang-hyuk, who became the first Korean track and field athlete to win a world championship silver medal at the 2022 Eugene Games, also won a silver medal in Tokyo, becoming the first Korean athlete to win two or more World Athletics Championships medals. Although he narrowly missed his first gold medal ever, he proved his unshakable world-class skills by taking the podium at the major championships following the 2022 and 2024 World Indoor Championships.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
