South Korean diving sensation Woo Haram (25, Korea Sports Promotion Agency) has qualified for the men’s 1-meter springboard final at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships.
Uharam finished ninth in the men’s 1-meter springboard qualification at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships on Thursday at the Fukuoka Prefectural Pool in Fukuoka, Japan, with a combined score of 362.65 points in the first through sixth heats to earn a ticket to the final, which is reserved for the top 12 finishers.
Sixty-two athletes competed in today’s preliminaries.
Uharam performed a high difficulty routine (405B) of a 3.4 in the first period, which required him to “stand with his back to the pool, leap forward in an inward motion, bend his upper body into a pike position with both legs extended and grasp his legs with both arms, and complete two and a half laps,” and started in second place with a score of 71.40.
Although she slipped a bit in the standings, she still qualified for the final.
Uharam will compete in the final on the afternoon of the 16th.
Feng Jianfeng (29-CN), who won this event at Budapest 2017, qualified first with 403.75 points.
At the 2019 Gwangju Games, Uharam finished fourth in the 1-meter springboard.
He also finished fourth in the men’s 3-meter springboard at the Tokyo Olympics, the best finish in Korean diving history.
Heading into Fukuoka, Uharam was worried.
Uharam, who competed at four consecutive World Championships from 2013 to 2019, missed last year’s Budapest Games due to a back injury.
“It was unavoidable, but it’s a shame that my streak of consecutive World Championship appearances was cut short,” said Uharam. “I had a back procedure in November last year and spent two to three months rehabilitating, then started technical training in March. I haven’t trained enough, but I’m in good shape. I will do my best to perform as well as possible.”
For now, Uharam breezed through his first match at the Fukuoka World Championships.
Uharam will compete in the men’s synchronized 3-meter springboard preliminaries on Friday, the 1-meter springboard final on Saturday and the 3-meter springboard final on Sunday.
Uharam’s goal is to finish in the top 12 in the 3-meter springboard to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Although not an Olympic event, he will also try to win a medal in the 1-meter springboard final.
The only one of the “diving trio” (Kim Young-nam, Kim Young-taek and Kim Young-ho) to compete at the Fukuoka World Championships, Kim Young-taek (21-JEJU) finished 50th with 256.00 points.
Kim’s main event is the 10-meter platform. She will compete in the mixed 10-meter platform, synchronized 10-meter platform, mixed team event and 10-meter platform.
Kim Na-hyun (19, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province) and Kim Soo-ji (25, Ulsan Metropolitan City) qualified for the women’s 1-meter springboard final.
Kim finished 14th with a total of 234.40 points from the first through fifth periods.
The top 12 players in the 44-player qualifier punched their tickets to the finals.
Kim missed out on a spot in the finals by 2.95 points to 12th-place Pamela Ware (CAN), who scored 237.35 points.
On the day, Kim finished 29th in the first period, but improved to 26th, 20th, 18th, and 14th in the following periods.
In the fifth and final period, she attempted a “105B,” which is a “2.5-lap pike with legs straight out in front of you, upper body bent, and legs held with both arms,” and scored a 50.70, placing her seventh in that period.
However, 안전놀이터 it was not enough to make up for her poor first and second runs.
Kim, who was competing at the World Championships for the first time as an individual, only qualified for the 1-meter springboard. After failing to qualify for the final, Kim completed her schedule on the first day of competition.
Kim, who won bronze in the women’s 1-meter springboard in Gwangju in 2019 to become the first South Korean women’s swimmer to win a World Championships medal, was unable to overcome her back pain and slipped to 19th place with a total of 229.40 points in the first five events.
Kim will compete in the synchronized 3-meter springboard, mixed team event, 3-meter springboard and mixed synchronized 3-meter springboard.
In the 3-meter springboard individual event, she will try to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which will be awarded to the top 12 athletes.
In the women’s 1-meter springboard qualification, Lin San (CHN) took first place with a score of 291.25 points, beating last year’s gold medalist in this event in Budapest, Hungary, Li Yaze (CHN) by 7.90 points (283.35).