S. Korea’s track and field stars ready to hit the ground running

Team Korea will kick off its track and field campaign at the Asian Games starting Wednesday, with high jumper Woo Sang-hyeok leading the charge for the country’s first athletics gold medal in eight years.

A total of 50 gold medals will be awarded over six days, with South Korea expected to compete for medals in events including the men’s high jump, 4x100-meter relay and shot put.

No Korean athlete will enter the competition under greater expectations than Woo.

The 30-year-old has won two world indoor titles and a Diamond League Final — the championship-deciding season finale of the elite one-day track and field series — but he has yet to add an Asian Games gold to his collection. He placed 10th as a high school student at the 2014 Incheon Games before claiming silver at both the 2018 and 2023 editions.

Woo finished behind China’s Wang Yu in Jakarta and Qatar’s Mutaz Barshim in Hangzhou. At his fourth Asian Games, the 30-year-old aims to become the first Korean to win the men’s high jump since Lee Jin-taek claimed consecutive titles in 1998 and 2002.

Woo will compete in the qualifying round Thursday, with the final slated for Sunday.

While Woo may be Korea’s hope for an individual gold, Korea’s sprinters could also make headlines.

Biwesa Daniel Gasama, a naturalized citizen from Congo, and Joel Jin Nwamadi, who was born to a Nigerian father and Korean mother, have emerged as a new generation of Korean sprinters. They will compete against each other in the 100 meters on Thursday before teaming up for the 4x100-meter relay on Sunday.

Both clocked 10.13 seconds this season, tying for the second-fastest time by a Korean sprinter. Only national record holder Kim Kuk-young has run faster in legal wind conditions, posting 10.07 seconds in 2017.

No Korean man has reached an Asian Games 100-meter podium since Jang Jae-keun won bronze in 1982.

Shot-putter Park Si-hoon will make his senior international debut on Saturday.

He won the Asian under-20 title in May, setting a continental junior record of 20.65 meters with the 6-kilogram shot. His record broke the one that had stood for 15 years. The 19-year-old followed that performance with silver at the World Athletics Under-20 Championships, finishing just four centimeters short of gold.