S. Korean high jumper Woo Sang-hyeok wins 1st int’l title of 2023

South Korean high jumper Woo Sang-hyeok captured his first international title of the season Sunday in Japan.

Woo won the men's high jump by clearing 2.29 meters at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix at International Stadium in Yokohama.

Joel Baden of Australia also jumped 2.29m but needed two attempts to do so, while Woo only required one attempt.

Woo is the first South Korean athlete to win gold at a Golden Grand Prix event on the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold circuit.

It's the latest "first" of many for Woo, who in 2022 became the first South Korean to win a Diamond League title and also a world indoor gold medal. He finished second at the world outdoor championships last year, the best showing by a South Korean athlete.

Woo had finished in second place at the Asian indoor championships in February and again at the Diamond League season opener earlier in May.

In Yokohama, seven of the nine jumpers began the competition at 2.15m. Woo's first attempt came with the bar set at 2.20m, and he cleared that easily.

Woo then moved the bar to 2.29m and needed just one attempt to clear it. By that time, only Woo and Baden were left standing.

Woo took three futile cracks at 2.32m. Baden went for 2.35m to topple the South Korean, but he, too, failed in all three tries to settle for second place.

Woo's personal best is 2.36m.

Woo's next competition will be the Diamond League stop in Firenze, Italy, on June 2.

Source: Yonhap News Agency