JINCHEON, South Korea-- Heading into his fifth world championships, South Korean diver Woo Haram feels he is due for a medal. The biggest obstacle, though, may not be his competition but his own health.

Woo attended a national swimming team press conference at the National Training Center in Jincheon, some 90 kilometers south of Seoul, on Tuesday, with the FINA World Championships just around the corner in Budapest. The event starts Friday with artistic swimming, and the diving competition starts on June 26.

Woo, 24, revealed he had recently been diagnosed with a herniated disk, after first experiencing lower back pain about a month ago.

"Physically, I am at only about 30 or 40 percent," Woo said. "With so much pain, it's been difficult to train. I don't have any issues on the technical side, but I am worried about lingering pain."

Woo is one of the most accomplished Korean divers. He has three silver medals and five bronze medals from the past two Asian Games.

He finished fourth in the men's 3m springboard at the 2019 world championships and ranked fourth again in the same event at the Tokyo Olympics last year. It was the best Olympic showing by a South Korean diver.

Woo said he wants to end the string of near misses in Hungary, aching back or not.

"This will be my fifth worlds already, and I think it's about time I won a medal," Woo said. "I haven't been able to train much because of my injury, but I am not worried about my techniques. I absolutely want to win a medal."

Woo said he's going to skip platform events so that he can focus on springboard, both 1m and 3m events.

Source: Yonhap News Agency