‘Smile Jumper’ Woo Sang-hyeok (27, Yongin City Hall) won the 2022 Korea Athletics Federation’s Athlete of the Year Award.
Kim Do-kyun (44), the national vertical jump coach who taught Woo Sang-hyeok, won the Leader of the Year Award.
On the 27th, the Korea Athletics Federation held the 2023 general meeting of delegates at the Olympic Parktel in Songpa-gu, Seoul, and also held the ‘2022 Best Athlete and Leader’ award ceremony.
Woo Sang-hyuk said, “Thank you. I will fight again this year.”
2022 was a very special year for Woo Sang-hyeok and Korean athletics.
On February 6, 2022, Woo Sang-hyeok set a new Korean record (winner) of 2m36 at the Czech Justopece indoor competition, and on February 16, Slovakia’s Banska Bistrica (2m35) also reached the top.
On March 20, he became the first Korean athlete to win a gold medal at the World Indoor Track and Field Championships (2m34) in Belgrade.
Woo Sang-hyeok won the opening match of the 2022 Diamond League held in Doha, Qatar, the ‘home of Basim’ on May 14, beating Mutaz Esa Barsim (Qatar), the ‘best jumper in active life,’ who jumped 2m30 over 2m33.
It was also the first time that a Korean player ranked first in the Diamond League. 토토사이트
At the Outdoor World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, USA, which was the most important event in 2022, he recorded 2m35 and took second place after Barsim, who exceeded 2m37.
It was the best achievement in Korean athletics history at the Outdoor World Championships, surpassing third place achieved by Kim Hyun-seop in the men’s 20 km walk at the 2011 Daegu Games.
Woo Sang-hyeok ranked first in the world ranking points compiled by the World Association of Athletics Federations, ending 2022 as the world No. 1 in the men’s high jump, and started 2023 as No. 1 in the world rankings.
It was coach Kim Do-kyun who provided the ‘power’ for Woo Sang-hyeok to leap to the world stage.
Woo Sang-hyeok, who fell into a deep slump after winning the silver medal at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, regained his confidence and improved technically after meeting coach Kim Do-gyun.
At the end of 2022, Woo Sang-hyeok thanked him, saying, “It is fortunate that I met coach Kim Do-gyun. The coach presented a new goal, and I followed it diligently. Thanks to the time I spent with coach, I achieved good results.”