We Have World Champions!

Mateusz Dylawerski with a triple crown, Karolina Nowak’s gold and Adam Zięba’s bronze at the Open World Taekwon-do Championships—not only the trio’s best results of their lives, but nominally the best performance by KCT representatives in the club’s history! The competition took place on 24–28 June 2015 in Rimini, Italy. Mateusz Dylawerski competed in the senior group, Karolina Nowak and Adam Zięba in the juniors, and coach Mikołaj Kotowicz seconded them.

The Palasport Flamino arena hosted 320 of the best taekwondo practitioners from 16 countries: Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, England, Ireland, Norway, Scotland, Canada, the USA, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Kyrgyzstan, Japan and, of course, 13 competitors from Poland.

The juniors competed on the first day. Adam Zięba reached the semifinal with comfortable victories, where he faced a representative of Kyrgyzstan. Despite our competitor’s apparent advantage, the judges declared a draw, and in the extra time the Asian competitor managed to score marginally better. Nevertheless, the bronze medal in the -63 kg category is a career-defining success for the 17-year-old from Balice.

The girls’ competition took place at the same time. Our best junior, Karolina Nowak, competed in the -58 kg category. Our competitor’s dominance was clear from the very beginning. In the semifinal she defeated the Australian very comfortably, and in the final gave the representative of Ireland no chance. As a result, “Nowaczka” won the World Champion title in black belts for the first time.

Mateusz Dylawerski had the longest road to a medal the following day. The senior -70 kg sparring category was among the most competitive. He received a bye in the round of 16, defeated an Irishman in the quarterfinal, demolished the host competitor in the semifinal, and in the final gave no chance to the Dutchman, who had performed excellently up to that point. As Mateusz himself admitted, this medal crowned his several dozen years of sporting career.

On the third day, the special techniques events came first, in which Mateusz Dylawerski is particularly strong. He qualified for the final round without difficulty, where he outjumped two representatives of the Netherlands, adding a second gold medal to his tally.

Team sparring also took place that day, with Poland’s men’s team entered. Mateusz Dylawerski competed in its lineup, while Adam Zięba served as a reserve competitor. The Poles eliminated, in succession, Kyrgyzstan and Ireland, and in the final Mateusz Dylawerski sealed our victory over the Scots with his win. Another gold medal went to the competitor from Wieliczka, who is also the coach of the section in Gdów.

Without a doubt, in terms of medals, this was the best performance by representatives of Krakowskie Centrum Taekwon-do at the World Championships. Congratulations to all three, and we encourage all the remaining competitors to follow in their footsteps.