High jumper Woo Sang-hyeok clinched a silver medal at the World Athletics Championships on Tuesday.
Woo cleared 2.35 m to finish as the runner-up to Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar in the final of the world championships in Eugene, Oregon. The bronze medal went to Andriy Protsenko of Ukraine.
"I'm satisfied with the result, though it didn't go as well as I had hoped," Woo said after the event. He took three attempts to clear 2.33 m and two attempts to clear 2.35 m.
Woo is the first Korean to grab a silver medal at the world championships and the country's second medalist ever following speed walker Kim Hyun-sub, who won bronze in the 20-km race at the 2011 event in Daegu.
After winning a silver medal at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, Woo struggled to find success at major competitions.
Losing weight helped him improve his performance, however. Standing 188 cm tall, he used to maintain his weight at around 74 kg. But he lost about 5 kg before the Tokyo Summer Olympics last year and finished fourth in the final of the men's high jump event with 2.35 m, setting a new national record.
Prior to the current world championships, he went on a strict diet that saw his weight fall even further to around 65 kg.
"It was really hard for me to eat only rye bread and salad because I like rice and spicy and salty food. But it's harder for me not to come up with good results, so I'll stay on the diet until the season ends in October," Woo said.
He also vowed to aim for a gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Koreans Hwang Young-jo and Lee Bong-ju won medals in the Olympic marathon, but the country has yet to win an Olympic medal in any other track and field event.
