Woo Sang-hyeok on July 18 competes in the final of the men's high jump at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, of the U.S. (Yonhap News)

Woo Sang-hyeok has won the first silver medal in the high jump in the nation's history at the World Athletics Championships.

In the men's final in Eugene, Oregon, of the U.S., Woo on July 18 finished second with a jump of 2.35 m. Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar, the gold medalist in the event at the Tokyo Summer Olympics last year, won the gold with 2.37 m.

Woo is the second Korean to win a medal at the tournament following male race walker Kim Hyun-sub, who won the bronze at the 2011 International Association of Athletics Federations' (now World Athletics) World Championships in Daegu. 

In the high jump, Korea's highest finish in a world championship before Woo's had been sixth by Lee Jin-taek at the 1999 tournament in Sevilla, Spain.

In the preliminaries on July 16, Woo's mark of 2.28 m tied him for first as he advanced to the final. He was the first to go in the final and cleared jumps at 2.19, 2.24, 2.27 and 2.30 m in the first round. He failed in his first two tries at 2.33 m but made it on his third try, and he succeeded at 2.35 m on his second try after failing on his first.

Barshim cleared 2.37 m, and Woo failed in his attempt at 2.39 m to win the gold.

On his social media account, Woo wrote, "What a historic day, my dream has come true," adding, "Thank you, people of the Republic of Korea, for cheering me on."

km137426@korea.kr