What has been a surprise, though, is his results individually in matches this season.
In Shanghai he was made to face Mete Gazoz in the quarterfinals, which is a tough task even for the five-time World Cup champion, but in a shoot-off situation you would still back him to get over the Tokyo 2020 gold medallist, or at least shoot a 10.
A nine is what he dropped in that match, however, with Gazoz’s nine closer to the centre, and against Wei Chun-Heng in Antalya, Woojin didn’t even get to the sudden death, losing 7-3 to Chun-Heng, an archer who wasn’t even selected for one of the Chinese Taipei’s three recurve men’s quota places at Paris 2024.
Usually the great is as cool as a cucumber with World Cups, which he often refers to as preparation for upcoming bigger events, for example the 20th Asian Games, which occurs in September.
But after both results, Woojin, 34, looked irritated, almost agitated at himself, which he made amends for by then grabbing two golds with Je Deok and Lee Woo Seok in the men’s team at both events and silver in Shanghai in the mixed team alongside Oh Yejin.
He was unsurprisingly far more cheerful for himself, however, and not just because he saved himself from shooting a match in the blistering Madrid heat as the wind increased over the course of the evening, up to 12 kilometres an hour.
“The wind today was quite tough, and it seemed like many players struggled. However, by shooting with more confidence and focusing on the direction where the wind was right, I think I was able to shoot good scores again this year,” he added.
Woojin and the rest of the competition will hope the wind tames itself tomorrow to a more agreeable nature during tomorrow’s recurve team eliminations, with mixed team matches following in the afternoon.
