‘Smile Jumper’ Woo Sang-hyuk (27, Yongin City Hall) is set for a rematch with Jubon Harrison (24, USA) in 28 days.
Woo will compete in the men’s high jump at the World Athletics Rome-Finance Diamond League 2023, which kicks off on 3 June at 3.20am local time in Florence, Italy.
The event organisers released the list of confirmed athletes on 27 June.
Harrison’s name appears on the list.
Woo Sang-hyuk cleared 2.27m to finish second in the opening round of the 2023 Diamond League in Doha on 6 June.
He beat “the best jumper in the world” Mutaz Essa Barshim (31-Qatar), who cleared 2.24m, but was pipped by Harrison, who cleared 2.32m.
Woo Sang-hyuk, the 2022 Doha Diamond League champion, failed to win his second consecutive title.
At this year’s Doha Diamond League, Woo was unable to step on the clouds as he feared a recurrence of the ankle injury he suffered last autumn.
However, after clearing 2.32m in the KBS Boat (Yecheon) on 9 September, which doubled as the national trials for the Hangzhou Asian Games, he beamed, saying, “I am completely free of injury concerns now.”
He won his first international title of the season with a jump of 2.29m at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, on the 21st.스포츠토토
“I need to be on the top of the podium frequently in various competitions so that I can win bigger competitions such as the World Championships, Asian Games and Olympics,” said Woo.
Woo, who is still training in Japan, will leave for Italy on the 30th.
He will not be competing in the Rome-Firenze Diamond League.
Jean-Marco Tamberi (ITA), 31, who finished joint first (2.37m) with Barshim at Tokyo 2020 in 2021, had initially planned to compete in the first meeting of the season on home soil, but has opted to withdraw due to concerns over a recurrence of his thigh injury.
A total of eight athletes have confirmed their participation in the men’s high jump at the Rome-Firenze Diamond League until the 27th.
Woo and Harrison are the favourites to win.
Harrison leads Woo in terms of outdoor personal bests (Harrison 2.36m, Woo 2.35m) and season’s best (Harrison 2.33m, Woo 2.32m).
Harrison was last year’s Rome-Pirenze Diamond League champion (2.27m). Woo was not present at that time.
However, Woo has a more colourful international resume.
Last year, Woo won the world indoor title (2.34m) and finished second (2.35m) at the outdoor world championships. At the Tokyo Olympics, he finished fourth (2.35m).
Harrison finished seventh (2.33m) at Tokyo and ninth (2.27m) at the 2022 World Outdoor Championships. However, Harrison has been performing consistently well in the second half of 2022, including a second place finish (2.34m) at the Diamond League Final last September.
Woo recognises Harrison as a good rival.
“Harrison and I are close friends,” said Woo. I was happy to see his performance improve from the second half of last year,” he said. “I thought he could do better if he focused more on the high jump, as he is also a long jumper, but I have to win the major competitions, so I will analyse other athletes and improve my stats.”
She will also be looking for an upset in her second meeting with Harrison this season.
Harrison is not the only world-class high jumper competing at the Rome-Firenze Diamond League.
As of today, seven athletes have qualified for the men’s high jump at the World Championships in Budapest in August.
Barshim is the defending world champion, while Tamberi earned a wild card as the 2022 Diamond League Final champion.
Harrison, Hamish Kerr (NZL), Joel Baden (AUS), Andriy Prochenko (UKR) and Sang Hyuk Woo (KOR), who jumped 2.32m or better during the World Championships qualification period (31 July 2022-30 July 2013), have also qualified.
The Rome-Pirenze Diamond League will feature four World Championship qualifiers in Woo, Harrison, Kerr and Prochenko.
Prochenko has a personal best of 2.40m and is a veteran of last year’s World Championships, where he finished third.
Django Lovett (personal best 2.33m-Canada), Edgar Rivera (2.31m-Mexico), Tobias Portier (2.30m-Germany) and Duwie Amels (2.28m-Netherlands) are also on the Diamond League entry list.
One more competitor could be added.