“Smile Jumper” Woo Sang-hyuk (28, Yongin City Hall) won the top of the Rome Diamond League.
Woo Sang-hyuk won the men’s high jump event at the 2024 World Athletics Diamond League Rome held at Olympic Stadium in Rome, Italy on the 31st (Korea time).
Romain Beckford (Jamaica) also exceeded 2m30, but Woo Sang-hyuk, who had few failures, took first place.
Woo Sang-hyuk, who won $10,000 (about 13.4 million won) and eight Diamond League ranking points, ranked third in the men’s high jump with a total of 19 points, confirming his advance to the final.
Woo Sang-hyuk, the 2023 Diamond League Final champion, will try to win his second consecutive title at the 2024 Final in Brussels, Belgium, on Sept. 14 local time.
In 2024, the Diamond League will rank with ranking points accumulated in 14 tournaments to determine the final winner at the 15th Brussels Final, which is like a “championship.”
As of local time, there are a total of six competitions for the men’s high jump, including Xiamen, China on April 20, Suzhou on July 27, Monaco on July 12, London, England on July 20, Silesia, Poland on August 25, and Rome, Italy on August 30.
The top eight players in each competition receive eight to one ranking point. In the men’s high jump, the top six players in ranking points advance to the final.
Woo Sang-hyuk has appeared in three Diamond League games this year.
At the Monaco Games on 12 July, Woo ranked third (6 points) over 2 m28, and at Silesia on 26 August, he finished fourth (5 points) with 2 m29.
In Rome, he won over 2 m 30 and won eight points.
Woo Sang-hyuk ranked third in the rankings with a total of 19 points in the Diamond League this year after Hamishker (30 points, New Zealand) and Shelby McCuan (19 points, USA).
Although McCuan and Woo Sang-hyuk have the same score, McCuan, who ranked higher in individual Diamond League competitions, came in second.
McCuan finished first, second, and fifth in this year’s individual competitions, while Woo Sang-hyuk finished first, third, and fourth, leading McCuan, who once ranked “second.”
In the Roman Diamond League, Woo Sang-hyuk crossed the 2m15, 2m20, 2m24 and 2m27 all in the first period.
The 2m30 failed in the first and second periods, but succeeded in the third period. 스포츠토토
Beckford, who crossed 2m27 in the third period, tried three times by raising the bar to 2m33 after crossing 2m30° in the third period.
Woo Sang-hyuk, who was watching Beckford’s game after applying for 2m35, finished the game without challenging 2m35 to avoid injury when the championship was confirmed.
Jean-Marco Tamberi (Italy) and Ole Doroshuk (Ukraine) tied for third with 2m27.
Woo Sang-hyuk shook off the disappointment of finishing sixth (2m29) at the Budapest World Championships in August by winning the Diamond League Final (2m35) in September.
Woo Sang-hyuk shed tears this year after finishing seventh with a time of 2m 27 at the Paris Olympics in August.
It was regrettable that he had a strong will to become the first Olympic medalist in Korean track and field history and was mentioned as a medal candidate.
Woo Sang-hyuk, who said, “I’ll just look ahead and keep running,” won the Rome Diamond League and confirmed his advance to the final, and got the opportunity to challenge for the second consecutive final.
This is the third time Woo Sang-hyuk has won individual Diamond League competitions, following Doha in May 2022 and Eugene (Final) in September 2023.
