European Poomsae Para

British athletes made history at the 2025 European Poomsae Championships, as they claimed a record 19 medals across all events, as well as winning the European Para Poomsae Team Trophy for the first time in Estonia.

Following on from the eight medals won on day one in Tallinn, there was a flurry of success throughout Thursday’s action, with one gold, five silvers and five bronzes making for another supreme showing of talent across the board, and becoming the most successful British team at a European Championships of all time.

The overall haul was six gold, seven silvers and six bronzes for all athletes, with the Para Team contributing three gold, two silver and one bronze to that total, which was enough to earn them the title as the best team in Europe.

While Jane Bedford [pictured below] couldn’t quite repeat her success from 2023, the reigning Champion earned second after being defeated by Greece’s Eleni Nestora in the P34 Seniors Female competition, which helped to seal the team title after an incredible showing from every member of the squad.

As the celebrations were getting underway for the Para team, Adrianna Beard and Louis Exton had their own moment to savour, as they claimed gold in the U17 Mixed Pairs, in one of the highlights of the second day in Estonia.

The duo were untouchable as they made their way through to the final, with pairings from Spain, France and Austria beaten in the earlier rounds, before they edged past Italy to be named European Champions.

The action came thick and fast at the start of the day, with the U14 Boys Team of James Sau, Akinfolajinmi Akinrele and Ethan Wan claiming silver in the early proceedings. The trio overcame opposition from Spain and Greece to setup a final showdown against the Turkish outfit, but had to settle for second spot after a competitive performance from both sides.

While golds were the order of the day on Wednesday, Thursday saw plenty more silver medals awarded to the British teams. The U60 Female Team of Maria Pieri, Gillian Fitzpatrick and Juliet Williams were runners-up in their division, while Ali Pourtaheri, Michael Pejic and Gerry Reilly did the same in the O60 Male category.

A number of strong Turkish teams continued to thwart the British side’s throughout the day, and so it proved again for Georgina Ingram, Sheena Au-Yeung and Ling Tze Tan in the U50 Female Team, who were beaten in the final after defeating Finland in the semi-finals.

There were also bronze medals for a number of British athletes on Thursday, with Fearne Corkish, Bethany Smith and Vi Ho Ha losing out to Spain in the U14 Female Team event, while Evie Co, Kaitlin Hoang and Cuba Wilson fell at the same hurdle in the U17 Female Team.

Further third-place finishes in the Male U60 Team (Simon Negus, Wayne Nicklin, Mark Pawlett), U17 Male Team (Peter Sellwood, Kieran Owen, Jai Hao Yu) and Mixed Pair Cadets (Eddie Sobiecki, Naomi Lam) took the medal haul to double figures before the lunch break, as the good news continued to roll in from every direction.

Jane Bedford European Para Poomsae

Elsewhere, the British male U30 team – consisting of Nino Ontoy, Maximo Libid, Oluwatimilehin Akinrele – failed to get past the last 16 in their event, with the female U30 team of Renee Marshall, Natasha Wilson and Olivia McGeoch also exiting the competition at that point after failing to beat the side from Spain.

Natasha was also unfortunate to go out in the early stages of the U30 Mixed Pair event in Thursday’s morning session, where she performed alongside Maximo Libid before losing to Türkiye in the Round of 32.

Jenny Furness and Mike Pejic were back in action in the O60 Mixed Pair but failed to overcome Austria in the quarter-final, while the U50 Mixed pair of Laura Muzeja and Ajay Singh Rawat were also knocked out at the same stage.

In the Freestyle O17 Female, Katie Vaughan produced a fantastically creative display, and earned herself a 7th-placed finish, while Zaw Torley finished 12th in a competitive field in the O17 Male section.

Each and every competitor can be extremely proud of their efforts in Tallinn over the past two days, with plenty of fantastic performances across the board in what has been a momentous occasion for British Taekwondo. We can’t wait to see what they achieve next!