Woo Sang-hyuk is set to compete in Korea’s first Diamond League Finals at 3 a.m. ET on Sunday.
‘Smile Jumper’ Woo Sang-hyuk (27, Yongin City Hall) will attempt to become the first Korean athlete to win the Diamond League Final.
The 2023 World Athletics Diamond League Finals will take place on July 17-18 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, USA.
Woo will compete in the men’s high jump at 3:08 a.m. on Sunday.
The Diamond League, which features some of the world’s top athletes, hosts 14 events a year.
Ranking points are accumulated from 13 events to determine the ‘winner’ of the 14th final event, which is the ‘championship’.
The first through eighth place finishers in each event are awarded eight to one victory points based on their ranking, with the top six men’s high jumpers qualifying for the Diamond League Finals.
There are six individual Diamond League 2023 events organized for the men’s high jump: Doha, Rome-Pirence, Stockholm, Silesia, London and Zurich.
Woo competed in four of them. His second-place finishes in Doha (2.27m) and Rome-Pirenze (2.30m) earned him seven points each, but he did not record a time in Stockholm, so he did not earn any Diamond League points.
Woo added six more points with a third-place finish in Zurich, his final individual event, giving him a total of 20 points and a fourth-place finish.
This is the first time a South Korean athlete has competed in the Diamond League Final, which is considered the most important event for athletes after the Olympic and World Championships.
Last year, Woo missed the final by one point, finishing seventh.
The Diamond League Final features all of the top jumpers in the world. The final champion receives a diamond-shaped trophy and $30,000 (approximately $40,000) in prize money.
Reigning World Champion Mutaz Essa Barshim (Qatar) qualified for the Final with a total score of 29 points and first place. Barshim will be looking to win his fourth career Diamond League Final after winning in 2014, 2015, and 2017.
Another favorite is Jean-Marco Tamberi (ITA), who took the top spot at the World Championships in Budapest in August. Tamberi is also the 2021 and 2022 Diamond League Final champion.
Jubon Harrison (USA), runner-up at the Budapest World Championships and a three-time Diamond League individual winner this year, will challenge for the title at home.
Hamish Kerr (NZL) and Thomas Carmoy (BEL) will also be competing in the Final.
Among the stiff competition, Woo Sang-hyuk is also hoping to win.
Hayward Field, the venue for the Diamond League Finals, holds fond memories for Woo.
In July 2014, while still a student at Chungnam High School, Woo won a bronze medal in the men’s high jump final at the World Junior Athletics Championships (U20) at Hayward Field with a then-personal best of 2.24 meters.
In July 2022, he cleared 2.35 meters at the World Championships in Eugene to win the first silver medal in Korean athletics.
The Diamond League Final is also a chance for Woo to bounce back from a sixth-place finish at the World Championships in Budapest.
“The challenge continues,” said Woo, 카지노사이트넷 “and I will run hard until the Diamond League Final and the upcoming Hangzhou Asian Games.”
