Turkey finished the European Taekwondo Championships at the top of the standings, British para-taekwondo marked the heavyweight categories
Turkey finished the 2026 European Taekwondo Championships in Munich in first place on the medal table in the senior part of the competition, after winning another gold on the final day and confirming its status as the most successful national team of the tournament. According to the official competition results and published medal tables, the Turkish national team won a total of eight medals in senior sparring, including three gold, two silver and three bronze medals. The competition was held from 11 to 14 May 2026 at the BMW Park arena in Munich and brought together the leading European taekwondo national teams in senior and para-taekwondo categories.
The final day brought the outcome in four senior categories and in the remaining para-taekwondo heavyweight competitions. In the senior programme, Elif Sude Akgül won the European title for Turkey in the under 49 kilogram category, further strengthening the Turkish national team’s place at the top of the overall standings. According to the published results, Turkey finished ahead of Belarus, which also won three golds, thanks to a higher total number of medals and a higher number of silver medals. Hungary was third with two gold, one silver and two bronze medals.
In para-taekwondo, the finale particularly belonged to British competitors in the heaviest categories. Matt Bush won gold in the men’s K44 category above 80 kilograms, while Amy Truesdale was the best in the women’s K44 category above 65 kilograms. With that, Great Britain, although with a smaller total number of medals than Turkey and Georgia, achieved a strong performance in the most exposed para-taekwondo bouts of the final day. Turkey, according to the published para-taekwondo table, finished at the top in that part of the programme as well, with a total of 14 medals.
The competition in Munich lasted four days
The 2026 European Championships were held in Munich as a continental G-4 competition, giving it significant sporting weight in the international taekwondo calendar. Taekwondo.TV states that the tournament was held from 11 to 14 May at BMW Park, at Grasweg 74, and that 817 participants were included in the competition. The official championship website published draws, results by day, lists of medal winners and team standings, while the European Taekwondo Union reported after the first two days that Turkey, Belarus, Georgia and Hungary were among the national teams that opened the championship most strongly.
The programme combined senior sparring and para-taekwondo, giving the championship a broader competitive framework. The first two days brought a series of titles in lighter and middle categories, while the finale decided the standings in the remaining senior categories and the heaviest para-taekwondo competitions. According to the official schedule, the final day was planned for the men’s categories under 54 and under 74 kilograms, the women’s categories under 49 and above 73 kilograms, and the para-taekwondo categories for men above 80 and women above 65 kilograms.
Such a schedule created a finale in which individual titles and the final balance of power on the medal table were being decided at the same time. Turkey entered the final day with an already strong performance, but Elif Sude Akgül’s gold was crucial for confirming the top position in the senior standings. Great Britain, on the other hand, used the final day for two major victories in para-taekwondo, highlighting its quality in disciplines in which competitors with experience from the biggest international competitions played an important role.
Turkey’s medal run in the senior competition
Turkey won three gold medals in the senior part of the championship. Berkay Erer was the best in the men’s under 68 kilogram category, Merve Dinçel Kavurat won the title in the women’s under 53 kilogram category, and Elif Sude Akgül completed Turkey’s golden run in the under 49 kilogram category. Alongside those golds, Turkey also won silvers through Emine Göğebakan in the under 46 kilogram category and Sude Yaren Uzunçavdar in the under 73 kilogram category, while bronze medals were won by Enes Kaplan, Hatice Kübra İlgün and Nafia Kuş Aydın.
According to the final medal table, Belarus finished second with three golds and one bronze. Belarusian titles came through Georgii Gurtsiev in the men’s under 58 kilogram category, Raman Turavinau in the under 80 kilogram category and Yuliya Vitko in the women’s under 57 kilogram category. Hungary secured third place with titles by Kamilah Salim in the under 46 kilogram category and Viviane Márton in the under 62 kilogram category, along with additional medals in women’s and men’s competition.
Spain finished very high overall thanks to Jairo Agenjo Trigos’s gold in the under 54 kilogram category, as well as three silvers and one bronze. Great Britain had one gold, one silver and three bronzes in the senior part, with Caden Cunningham achieving the biggest result in the above 87 kilogram category. Host Germany reached gold in the heaviest women’s senior category through Lorena Brandl, who defeated Lauren Williams of Great Britain in the final.
The final day brought golds to Spain, Serbia, Turkey and Germany
In the men’s under 54 kilogram category, the European title was won by Spaniard Jairo Agenjo Trigos, who was better than Italian Gaetano Cirivello in the final. Bronze medals went to Greek Aristeidis Nikolaos Psarros and Bulgarian Hristiyan Georgiev. Spanish media reported that Agenjo, at 18 years old and in his first major senior competition, achieved one of the most notable results of the championship and thereby further strengthened Spain’s overall performance.
In the under 74 kilogram category, gold was won by Stefan Takov of Serbia, ahead of Zurab Kintsurashvili of Georgia. Bronze was won by Croatian representative Marko Golubić and Azerbaijani Javad Aghayev. For Croatia, it was another medal in Munich, after Ivan Šapina in the above 87 kilogram category, Nika Karabatić in the under 57 kilogram category and Leon Hrgota in the under 80 kilogram category had earlier climbed onto the podium.
In the women’s under 49 kilogram category, Elif Sude Akgül brought Turkey a gold that carried special weight for the final ranking of national teams. Silver was won by Andrea Bokan of Serbia, while bronze medals went to Mah Teninbi Fofana of France and Adriana Cerezo of Spain. In the heaviest women’s category, above 73 kilograms, Lorena Brandl secured gold for Germany, Lauren Williams won silver for Great Britain, and Nafia Kuş Aydın of Turkey and Dagmara Haremza of Poland won bronze.
British strength in para-taekwondo heavyweight categories
The finale of the para-taekwondo programme was especially successful for Great Britain. Matt Bush won the title of European champion in the men’s K44 category above 80 kilograms, in which silver went to Croatian representative Ivan Mikulić. Bronze medals were won by Turkish competitors Adem Arda Özkul and Osman Ertürk. In the women’s K44 category above 65 kilograms, Amy Truesdale won gold, Greek Eleni Papastamatopoulou silver, and bronze was taken by Fatma Nur Yoldaş of Turkey and Jelena Rašić of Serbia.
Those results confirmed British quality in the heaviest para-taekwondo categories, although Turkey had the broadest medal base. According to the published para-taekwondo table, Turkey won three gold, two silver and nine bronze medals, 14 medals in total. Georgia finished second with two gold, three silver and seven bronze medals, 12 in total, while Great Britain was third with two gold medals.
In other para-taekwondo categories, titles were won by Asaf Yasur of Israel in the K44 category under 58 kilograms, Mahmut Bozteke of Turkey in the under 63 kilogram category, Yusuf Yünaçtı of Turkey in the under 70 kilogram category and Nikola Spajić of Serbia in the under 80 kilogram category. In the women’s competition, gold medals were won by Zakia Khudadadi of France under 47 kilograms, Ana Japaridze of Georgia under 52 kilograms, Gamze Gürdal of Turkey under 57 kilograms and Christina Gkentzou of Greece under 65 kilograms. In the men’s K41 categories, European titles went to Aziz Hanefi of Germany and Andrei Sleptsov of Georgia.
Croatian performances brought several podiums
Croatian competitors in Munich achieved several podium finishes in the senior and para-taekwondo programme. In the senior part, Ivan Šapina won bronze in the above 87 kilogram category, in a competition in which gold was won by Briton Caden Cunningham, silver by Spaniard Iván García Martínez, and the other bronze by Belarusian Artsiom Plonis. Nika Karabatić won silver in the under 57 kilogram category, where gold went to Yuliya Vitko of Belarus, and bronze medals to Luca Patakfalvy of Hungary and Hatice Kübra İlgün of Turkey.
Leon Hrgota won the bronze medal in the under 80 kilogram category, in which Raman Turavinau of Belarus was golden, Kyrylo Hurnov of Ukraine was silver, and Ioannis Papadopoulos of Greece won the other bronze. Marko Golubić added bronze in the under 74 kilogram category, bringing Croatia’s senior part to a total of four medals. According to the published medal table, Croatia had one silver and three bronzes in the senior standings.
In para-taekwondo, Ivan Mikulić stood out as the silver medallist in the men’s K44 category above 80 kilograms. Croatia also had a bronze in the para programme through Marko Gracko in the under 80 kilogram category, in which gold went to Nikola Spajić of Serbia, silver to Lasha Tkemaladze of Georgia, and the other bronze to Emre Bulgur of Turkey. Those results confirm the continuity of Croatian medals in sparring categories, especially in heavier men’s competitions.
The broader standings showed the evenness of European taekwondo
Although Turkey finished at the top of the senior standings, the distribution of medals shows that European taekwondo continues to develop in a very broad competitive field. In total, 21 national teams won at least one medal in the senior part. Turkey, Belarus and Hungary stood out by golds, but Spain, Great Britain, Greece, Croatia, Italy, Ukraine and France also had multiple medal winners.
The breadth is particularly visible in the women’s categories, in which titles were won by representatives of Hungary, Turkey, Belarus, Greece, Belgium and Germany. In the men’s part, golds were shared between Spain, Belarus, Norway, Turkey, Serbia, Poland and Great Britain. Such a distribution confirms that no national team has complete dominance in all categories, although Turkey remains the most stable in overall performance.
The para-taekwondo standings had a different dynamic because Turkey and Georgia collected the largest number of medals, while Great Britain achieved the maximum valuable performance through two golds in heavyweight categories. According to available data, a total of 12 national teams won at least one medal in para-taekwondo. This is an important indicator of the competitiveness of a sport that has gained stronger institutional and media visibility in recent years, especially after para-taekwondo was included in the Paralympic programme.
Munich as the final test of the European elite
The European Championships in Munich were one of the key continental competitions of the season and an important indicator of form for athletes targeting the biggest international competitions. The tournament’s G-4 status means that the results have additional value in the international ranking system, which made performances in Germany important beyond the European titles themselves. During the tournament, organisers published results by day, while the official competition systems enabled the tracking of draws, bouts and final podiums.
Turkey left Munich as the most successful senior national team, with titles in men’s and women’s competition and with a sufficiently broad medal performance to remain ahead of Belarus. In para-taekwondo, the Turkish national team also had the highest total number of medals, but the final day was most strongly marked by the British performances of Matt Bush and Amy Truesdale. Croatia concluded the championship with several podium finishes in the senior and para-taekwondo programme, including medals in the heaviest men’s categories.
Sources:
- Official website of the 2026 European Taekwondo Championships – daily results, draws and lists of medal winners (link)
- Europe Taekwondo – report on the first two competition days and the context of the championship at BMW Park (link)
- Taekwondo.TV – tournament data, location, G-4 competition status, number of participants and medal winners (link)
- InterSportStats – medal table and list of medal winners in the senior categories of the 2026 European Championships (link)
- Cadena SER – report on Spanish results, including Jairo Agenjo Trigos’s title in the under 54 kilogram category (link)