Woo Sang-hyeok is first high jumper to clear 2.32 meters this season

Woo Sang-hyeok competes at the men's high jump finals at the Naju Athletics Championships in Naju Sports Complex in Naju,South Jeolla on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

Olympian high jumper Woo Sang-hyeok cleared 2.32 meters at the Naju Athletics Championships on Wednesday, clearing the highest height recorded anywhere in the world so far this season in both indoor and outdoor competitions.

At the championships in Naju, South Jeolla, Woo won the high jump finals, becoming the first high jumper in the world to clear the height in an outdoors competition this season.

This March, Woo became the first Korean to win the men's high jump at the 2022 World Indoor Athletics Championships in Belgrade, Serbia.

In April 19, Woo cleared 2.3 meters at the National Athletics Championships to top the table and earn his ticket to the Hangzhou Asian Games.

Woo currently holds the Korean record of 2.35 meters, which he set at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He broke the long-standing Korean record of 2.34 meters, set on June 20, 1997 by Lee Jin-taek.

Woo is a two-time Olympian, having competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics and Tokyo Olympics. Back in 2016, Woo only managed to clear the bar at 2.26 meters, failing to reach the final. In Tokyo, Woo advanced to the final, the first Korean to advance to the finals since the 1996 Atlanta Games, where Lee finished eighth.

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]