WIC Kujawy Pomorze 26 facts and figures: men's high jump

Last three sets of world indoor medallists

2022 - 1. Sang-Hyeok Woo (KOR) 2.34m; 2. Loïc Gasch (SUI) 2.31m; 3.= Hamish Kerr (NZL) 2.31m; 3.= Gianmarco Tamberi (ITA) 2.31m
2024 - 1. Hamish Kerr (NZL) 2.36m; 2. Shelby McEwen (USA) 2.28m; 3. Woo Sang-hyeok (KOR) 2.28m
2025 - 1. Woo Sang-hyeok (KOR) 2.31m; 2. Hamish Kerr (NZL) 2.28m; 3. Raymond Richards (JAM) 2.28m

Highest winning jumps

Javier Sotomayor (CUB) – 2.43m (1989)
Javier Sotomayor (CUB) – 2.41m (1993)
Hollis Conway (USA) – 2.40m (1991)

Lowest winning jump

Sang-Hyeok Woo (KOR) – 2.31m (2025)

Biggest winning margin

0.08m - 1989: Javier Sotomayor (CUB) 2.43m, Dietmar Mogenburg (FRG) 2.35m
0.08m - 2024: Hamish Kerr (NZL) 2.36m, Shelby McEwen (USA) 2.28m

Smallest winning margin

0.00m - 1987: Igor Paklin (URS) 2.38m, Gennadiy Avdyeyenko (URS) 2.38m
0.00m - 1999: Javier Sotomayor (CUB) 2.36m, Vyacheslav Voronin (RUS) 2.36m
0.00m - 2012: Dimitrios Hondrokoukis (GRE) 2.33m, Andrey Silnov (RUS) 2.33m

Highest jumps on Polish soil

2.40m 1 Mutaz Essa Barshim (QAT) - Opole 11.06.2016
2.38m 1 Mutaz Essa Barshim (QAT) - Sopot (World Indoors) 09.03.2014
2.37m 1 Artur Partyka (POL) - Spala 18.02.2000
2.37m 1 Ivan Ukhov (RUS) - Opole 06.02.2012
2.37m 1 Mutaz Essa Barshim (QAT) - Opole 04.06.2017
2.37m 1 Maksim Nedasekau (BLR) - Torun (European Indoors) 07.03.2021

Repeat winners

4 - Javier Sotomayor (CUB) 1989, 1993, 1995, 1999
4 - Stefan Holm (SWE) 2001, 2003, 2004, 2008
2 - Sang-Hyeok Woo (KOR) 2022, 2025

By country

5 - Sweden
4 - Cuba
3 - Russia (inc. ANA)
2 - South Korea
2 - United States
1 - Soviet Union
1 - Qatar
1 - Italy
1 - New Zealand
1 - Greece

Top eight entrants (based on final entries)

Jan Štefela (CZE) 2.32m
Sang-hyeok Woo (KOR) 2.30m
Oleh Doroshchuk (UKR) 2.30m
Tomohiro Shinno (JPN) 2.30m
Christian Falocchi (ITA) 2.30m
Naoto Hasegawa (JPN) 2.30m
Mateusz Kołodziejski (POL) 2.30m
Younes Ayachi (ALG) 2.28m

Historic facts

• With four gold medals along with one silver and one bronze medal, Javier Sotomayor (CUB) is the most successful men’s high jumper in World Indoor Championships
• He became the youngest ever world indoor medallist when he won silver in 1985 at the age of 17y/97d 
• Sang-Hyeok Woo (KOR) became South Korea’s first ever world indoor champion when he won high jump gold in Belgrade in 2022
• The 1989, 1991 and 1993 World Indoor Championships were all won with 2.40m-plus jumps. The highest winning clearance since then is 2.38m (Sotomayor in 1995 and Mutaz Essa Barshim in 2014) 

Potential storylines and notes

• Can reigning champion Sang-Heok Woo (KOR) become just the third athlete to win three or more world indoor high jump titles?
• Can world leader Jan Stefela (CZE) become the first Czech winner of this title? His coach Jaroslav Baba won bronze in 2004
• Can Mateusz Kołodziejski (POL) become just the second Polish medallist in the men’s high jump in World Indoor Championships history after Artur Partyka won silver in 1991?
• The youngest entrant is 17-year-old Younes Ayachi (ALG) who has improved from 2.21m to an African indoor U20 record of 2.28m in 2026. His principal coach is Amine Hafed and they spent one-month training camp on Polish soil in Spala where Dragutin Topic (SRB) provided him some technical input