Lee Woo-seok wins gold medal in individual event at Asian Games... Conquered after the third attempt

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Ahn Hong-seok = Lee Woo-seok (Kolon) won the Asian Games individual gold medal with 3 rounds of 2 rounds.

Lee Woo-seok, who first picked up a bow when he was in the third grade of elementary school, quickly attracted attention as a top prospect. He won five gold medals in the high school division at the 2013 National Sports Festival, and set a new world record in the 70m ranking round at the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympics.

However, after entering the adult stage, he had to face several difficulties.

In the final evaluation match for the national team at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, he placed fourth and narrowly missed out on the right to participate, which was given to three people.

At the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, where he competed as a soldier, he lost to Kim Woo-jin (Cheongju City Hall), who had already completed his military service, in the men's individual finals and missed the opportunity to be discharged early.

The COVID-19 pandemic made Lee Woo-seok cry twice.

Ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, he was selected as a member of the national team and prepared for the final evaluation match, but as the Olympics were postponed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, everything became 'nothing like it was'.

The following year, he attempted to advance to the Olympics again, but was unable to overcome the final hurdle.

The nightmare of ‘postponing the competition’ also came to the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games. Although he qualified for the national team, his participation was canceled as the competition was postponed for a year. Lee Woo-seok competed again from the beginning and won a ticket to Hangzhou.

It was from this time that Lee Woo-seok's archery life began to shine.

At the Hangzhou Games, he won two gold medals in the men's team event and the mixed team event, and added a bronze medal in the individual event.

At the 2024 Paris Olympics, they won a gold medal in the men's team event. In the individual semifinals, he lost to Kim Woo-jin in a shoot-off match, but won the bronze medal.

Afterwards, they continued to maintain top-level skills by winning the team gold medal at the 2025 Gwangju World Championships and the team gold medal at the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th World Cup this year.

Woo-seok Lee won the gold medal by defeating Junya Nakanishi (Japan) with a set score of 6-2 in the final of the men's individual archery recurve event at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at the multi-purpose plaza at Okazaki Central General Park in Aichi Prefecture, Japan on the 3rd.

This is the Asian Games individual gold medal that he won after his third attempt. Lee Woo-seok, who previously won a silver medal at the Jakarta Games and a bronze medal at the Hangzhou Games, collected all individual medals of the Asian Games by color.