16th European Taekwondo Poomsae Championships, Innsbruck, Austria – 24-26th November 2023.
Report by Chan Sau (GB Poomsae National High Performance Coach)
Great Britain’s stellar performance at the 16th European Poomsae Championships marked a historic achievement, securing an unprecedented 11 medals, our best-ever tally of medals on the European stage.
This outstanding result included 2 Gold, 4 Silver, and 5 Bronze medals, showcasing the depth and prowess of our nation in the world of Poomsae.
Among the 28 European countries in participation, our athletes’ medal haul positioned our country at the impressive 4th Place spot in both the Best Male Team and Best Female Team categories, as well as securing our nation the 4th Place Overall Best Team in Europe.
In addition to our achievements in Poomsae, this European Championships featured Para-Poomsae for the first time marking the inaugural 1st European Para-Poomsae Championships. Our team of seven athletes secured a total of 6 European Para-Poomsae medals made up of 3 Gold, 2 Silver and 1 Bronze which is an amazing result and helped Great Britain place 3rd Place Best Overall Para-Poomsae Team in Europe.
The triumphs at the 16th European Poomsae Championships represent the culmination and continuation of over seven years of dedicated efforts by British Taekwondo Poomsae.
Initiated in 2016, the Poomsae Performance Programme persevered through the challenges, including a near three-year pause in major physical competition amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This success not only reflects the collective hard work of all our dedicated athletes, coaches, and volunteer-led workforce, but also underscores the programme’s impact at grassroots levels, showcasing achievements in cadet, junior, and senior categories alike as well as within our world-leading Para-Poomsae Performance Programme.
At the cadet level, Great Britains U14 Male Team of Daniel Owen, Gabriel Casaclang and Lucas Ng reclaimed the European Gold medal for our nation, last won back at the 2019 European Championships in Turkey, putting out a performance that could not be bettered by any other country.
Likewise, our young trio of Kaitlin Hoang, Vi Ho Ha & Niamh Lawler secured a hard-fought Bronze medal for Great Britain in the U14 Female Team event.
Our Individual cadet male and female athletes, Louis Exton and Cuba Wilson, represented the country with pride despite the intense pressure at their first major event. Being amongst the first British competitors to take to the floor on Day 1 also added to the pressure despite the strong British support in the stands. Louis finished just outside the qualifiers in the Individual U14 Male category ranking 12th in Europe. Hopes were high for Cuba after a fantastic initial round, ranking within the top 4 in the preliminaries but her nerves got the better of her as the event progressed and in the end had to settle for a finish amongst the top 8 athletes in Europe in the final of the U14 Female category which in itself is still a fantastic achievement.
On Day 2 of the competition, Louis and Cuba put their disappointments from their Individual events behind them to combine magnificently in an extremely competitive U14 Pair category finishing in a very respectable 6th from the 13 countries in contention and only just outside of the medal positions.
Of our eight cadet athletes that represented Great Britain this time around, six will still be young enough to be eligible for the U14 category for 2024. We are confident that this experience can only help to strengthen their resolve as they continue to develop which can only benefit our country as we build towards next years World Championships as well as future major championships.
For our Junior athletes this has been our most successful ever European Championships.
Zaw Torley and his partner Olivia McGeoch, combined for the Junior U17 Pair on Day 1 of the championships putting out an amazing medal-winning performance in the final after a nervous semi-final. This elevated them from sixth through to third in the final securing them the Bronze medal and for the second successive Europeans that Great Britain have competed in, achieved a medal in this competitive category.
Day 2 saw Zaw compete in the Individual U17 Male event. His standout performances over three rounds of competition secured him the European title and his historical Gold medal marks the first time Great Britain has had a European Champion in this category.
In addition, Alfie Harper also represented the country in the Individual U17 Male event marking the first time Great Britain has had two athletes in this category at the Europeans, Alfie also put in fantastic performances in all three rounds and finished the event with a 6th place European ranking, just 0.1 away from adding another medal for the team.
Adrianna Beard rounded off our Junior Individual U17 competitors for Day 2. She was unfortunate when a slight loss of balance prevented her near-vertical turning kick from landing cleanly in her first-round performance of Tageuk 6. This resulted in heartbreak for Adrianna as the judges punished the indiscretion harshly costing her the opportunity to progress beyond the preliminaries.
Adrianna put her disappointments aside though on Day 3 as, alongside her teammates – Olivia McGeogh and Renee Marshall – they smashed the U17 Female Team category. They put in a massive performance in the semi-final to place them third in the standings and set them up for what was to be a nail-biting final. An amazing and very composed performance from our female team of Taeguek 6 and Taebaek piled the pressure onto their Finnish opposition. The Finns, who were very narrowly ahead at that point, succumbed under the intense scrutiny by the judges causing them to make what would be a very slight, but very costly, discrepancy in timing between the team on their very last movements. In doing so it elevated our trio into the silver medal position, our best-ever result in this category on the major stage and resulted in tears of elation and pure unbridled joy from athletes, and coaches alike.
As with the cadets, three of our five Junior U17 athletes – our European Champion Zaw, as well as European Silver medallists Adrianna and Olivia – will still be eligible for this category as we head towards next years World Championships and with the experience gained by our Cadet athletes which move up alongside our deep pool of talent at Cadet and Junior level at home the future looks bright for the coming years ahead.
In the Senior Individual divisions, we continue to build on the success of previous years.
Our team captain, Master Ali Pourtaheri, former World medallist and 2019 European Champion aimed to replicate his success in the Individual O65 Male category. It would be no easy feat though up against the current World and European Champion GM Kim from Spain who pipped him to the title on this occasion with Master Ali having to settle for Silver and Vice-Champion of Europe.
In the Individual U50 Female category, Wenqi Li secured Great Britain’s first-ever medal in this category at European level taking a stunning Silver medal in the event. She batted off the challenges made by a number of previous World and European medallists including the World Bronze medallist from Finland and in the end, will feel a pang of disappointment that she didn’t take the top spot with her score less than 0.07 behind the current 2022 World Champion from Spain.
In the Individual O66 Female category, our oldest representative, Jenny Furness completed a life ambition of competing for Great Britain. The 72-year-old claimed a Bronze medal for Great Britain in her first outing representing our country, just behind the multiple World and European Championship-winning athletes from Portugal and France.
Likewise in the individual U65 Female category Marina Malaffo, who also represented Great Britain for the first time, won a further amazing Bronze for GB giving her the chance to raise the flag on the podium.
For our U60 representatives Wayne Nicklin and Maria Pieri they both put in spirited performances but just missed out on this occasion. Wayne was squeezed out of a place in the Individual U60 Male final, finishing with a European placing of 9th. Maria went a step further to make what was a closely matched final for the U60 Females but ending her European journey with an 8th place finish.
The Single Elimination format of U30 and U40 categories whilst very exciting to watch for the spectators depends a lot on the draw and proved irksome for our British athletes.
Maximo Libid in the Individual U30 Male category had the most exciting run defeating Italy in the round of 32 followed by Spain in the round of 16, but this was agonisingly cut short by Turkey in the quarter finals who finished up taking the Bronze in this event.
Natasha Wilson, representing Great Britain in the Individual U30 Female category, overcame Croatia in the round of 32. But her run unfortunately ended against her formidable opposition from Spain in the round of 16.
Our trio of U40 representatives – Sheena Au-Yeung and Cathy Poplett in the Individual U40 Female category, and Reza Saberi in the Individual U40 Male category – all put in some of their best-ever performances. On this occasion however, it wasn’t quite enough to get beyond the strong opposition they were up against from Spain, Germany, and Italy respectively who all finished amongst the medals at this year’s Europeans.
Similarly to the Senior Individual divisions, the synchronised Pair and Team events had mixed success for Great Britain this year.
There were medals for Great Britain in the U30 age group with Oluwatimilehin Akinrele, Maximo Libid and Nino Ontoy securing a Bronze in the U30 Male Team category, as well as for Wenqi Li, Cathy Poplett and Sheena Au-Yeung who secure a further Bronze for the country in the O30 Female Team category.
There was disappointment however for our U30 Pair of Natasha Wilson and Nino Ontoy who would both have hoped to finish higher in the final standings but the strength in depth from all countries made it difficult for them to qualify from the semi-final round.
The U30 Female Team of Georgina Ingram, Cai Lin Yu and Chloe McIntosh similarly experienced the depth of the talent across Europe within this category, finishing the event in 9th place in Europe.
In Freestyle Poomsae our sole representative at this year’s Championships, Amy Stewart did the country proud with her routine in the Individual O17 event and also finished with a 9th place European ranking.
Overall we are incredibly proud and pleased with our Teams performance at this years European Championships, with 11 Poomsae and 6 Para-Poomsae medals secured, 5 European Champions made, and Top 4 Best Country in Poomsae, Top 3 Best Country in Para-Poomsae, rankings achieved.
We would like to thank all our athletes for their hard work and dedication to the programme. Every one of you have been a credit to our country and we congratulate you on your success this week as well as your contributions and support to the results of the whole team.
We would also like to thank the families of our athletes as without their support it wouldn’t be possible for them to participate in the sport that they love, spending endless hours traveling the length and breadth of the country week after week, month after month helping them to achieve their ambitions.
Additionally, a huge thank you also to all the British Taekwondo club coaches for your support, hard work and dedication both for our European representatives as well as all the athletes within the British Taekwondo Poomsae Performance Programme. Our success is also your success, your athletes are a credit to you and your clubs, and we would not be able to achieve what we have on this historic occasion without you.
Congratulations to Master Dr. Said Khelwatty for all your hard work as WT Technical Delegate, in organising what has been an unforgettable event alongside the organising team, as well as a thank you for your assistance and support through this championships.
Thank you to Master Kambiz Ali, Range Sports and Jcalicu for your sponsorship of our amazing team uniforms.
Well done also to our UK and Northern Ireland Judges – Master Glenn Culbert, Master Damien Duffy and Master Kambiz Ali – for your hard work on behalf of the British Taekwondo Referee Department.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank and recognise all the coaches within the British Taekwondo Poomsae Performance Programme as well as our support team, all of whom work many hours, much of which is behind the scenes and voluntarily, to support our endeavours. We understand that there is still much to do and can be done, as we work towards the World Championships in Hong Kong, which is now less than a year away, as well as commence the new European cycle through to 2025 and beyond.
Great Britain Results at the 2023 European Poomsae Championships in Innsbruck, Austria
British Taekwondo Poomsae, Freestyle and Para-Poomsae National Team
- U14F – Cuba Wilson (NTC Nottingham) – 8/23
- U14M – Louis Exton (Nomad) – 12/21
- U17M – Zaw Torley (Arumchan) – GOLD
- U17M – Alfie Harper (PremierKi) – 6/26
- U17F – Adrianna Beard (Kang Han) – 18/26
- U30F – Nastasha Wilson (Central) – R16
- U30M – Maximo Libid (PremierKi) – QF
- U40 Female – Sheena Au-Yeung (Arumchan) – R16
- U40 Female – Cathy Poplett (Nomad) – R16
- U40 Male – Reza Saberi (Alis Dojang) – R16
- U50 Female – Wenqi Li (PremierKi) – SILVER
- U60 Female – Maria Pieri (UKMAAFA) – 8/11
- U60 Male – Wayne Nicklin (Stoke) – 9/13
- U65 Female – Marina Malaffo (Dorset) – BRONZE
- O66 Female – Jenny Furness (Odessey) – BRONZE
- O66 Male – Ali Pourtaheri (PremierKi) – SILVER
- U14 Pair – Cuba Wilson (NTC Nottingham) & Louis Exton (Nomad) – 6/13
- U17 Pair – Olivia McGeoch (Gajok) & Zaw Torley (Arumchan) – BRONZE
- U30 Pair – Nastasha Wilson (Central) & Nino Ontoy (Manx) – 16/18
- U14 Team Female – Niamh Lawler (Gajok), Vi Ha Ho (Nomad), Kaitlin Hoang (Nomad) – BRONZE
- U14 Team Male – Lucas Pak-Hei Ng (Kang Han), Gabriel Casclang (Win), Daniel Owen (Warrior) – GOLD
- U17 Team Female – Renee Marshall (Nomad), Adrianna Beard (Kang Han), Olivia McGeoch (Gajok) – SILVER
- U30 Team Female – Georgina Ingram (Aquila), Chloe McIntosh (PremierKi), Cai Lin Yu (Nomad) – 9/12
- U30 Team Male – Oluwatimilehin Akinrele (Nomad), Nino Ontoy (Manx), Maximo Libid (PremierKi) – BRONZE
- O30 Team Female – Cathy Poplett (Nomad), Sheena Au-Yeung (Arumchan), Wenqi Li (PremierKi) – BRONZE
Freestyle
- Over 17 Freestyle Female – Amy Stewart (Lisburn) – 9/12
Para-Poomsae Athletes
- Male Senior 1 P21 – Bradley Brockies (Polaris) – GOLD
- Female Senior 1 P21 – Summer Waheed (NTC) – GOLD
- Female Senior 2 P34 – Jane Bedford (NTC) – GOLD
- Male Senior 1 P21 – Ben Savage (Unite) – SILVER
- Female Senior 1 P22 – Gabrielle Toas (Chi) – SILVER
- Male Senior 2 P21 – Kelvin Lowe (Cumbria) – BRONZE
- Leon Lindsay (Granite City)
Coaches (Poomsae)
- Gemma Biescas – PremierKi
- GM Tong Wan Shin – Shins
- GM David Bailey – Central
- Chan Sau – Loughton
- Chi Lai – Nomad
Coaches (Para-Poomsae)
- Russell Watkinson – Unite
- Terry Cooper – Aquila
Support Team
- Chaperone – Della O’Horo (Aspire)
- Volunteer Para-Poomsae Assistant – Leslie Ng (Kang Han)
The British Taekwondo Poomsae Team at the Innsbruck 2023 European Poomsae Championships
The British Taekwondo Poomsae Performance Department
British Taekwondo’s Poomsae Performance Department is responsible for the development of athletes competing and training at national and international level.
The first steps to national team selection is participation in open Poomsae seminars and selection into national squad training sessions.
British Taekwondo’s Poomsae Performance Department has a structured pathway for athletes including squad and team selection criteria for major events.
The GB Para Poomsae athletes each won a gold medal at the Veracruz 2023 World Para Taekwondo Championships in Mexico earlier this year.
Range Sports and Jcalicu
Range Sports and Jcalicu are the Official Uniform Sponsors of British Taekwondo’s National Teams. The partnership kicked off with Jcalicu uniforms being supplied to the Great Britain National Teams at the World Taekwondo Cadet World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria in August 2022.
All British Taekwondo instructors can apply for a trade account with Range Sports.
Photos: Thank you to Chan Sau for the photos from the event.
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