High jumper Woo Sang-hyeok calls world championships silver medal 'miracle'

High jumper Woo Sang-hyeok said Thursday that considering his injury setbacks, it was nothing short of a miracle that he was able to grab the silver medal at the world championships this week. Woo returned home two days after winning silver at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. Woo, who'd also won silver at the 2022 worlds, jumped 2.34 meters to finish in second place behind Hamish Kerr of New Zealand, who cleared 2.36m. Woo had been undefeated in seven international competitions prior to the worlds. But his season took a worrisome turn in August, when he suffered a calf injury that kept him on the sidelines for five weeks. Though he recovered in time for the worlds, Woo picked up an ankle injury during the qualification over the weekend. At less than 100 percent, Woo still pushed Kerr, the reigning Olympic gold medalist, before settling for second place. "I went hard during the qualification because I had to perform well there to get to the final. But since I was competing for the first time in a while, I sustained a bruise to my ankle," Woo told reporters after arriving at GimWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times