At the European Championships in Taekwondo and Parataekwondo held in Munich, Croatian representatives secured three medals, including one silver and two bronze.
One of Croatia's top parataekwondo athletes, Ivan Mikulić, clinched the silver medal after losing in the final of the +80 kg category to Britain's Matt Bush with a score of 0-2 across the rounds. On his way to the final, Mikulić, a member of the Split-based club Galeb, defeated Damir Vatres from Bosnia and Herzegovina in the quarterfinals and then Turkey's Osman Erturk in the semifinals.
This is Mikulić's third bronze from European Championships, with five gold medals to his name as well. He first claimed a European title in Moscow in 2011, then in Antalya in 2014, followed by Warsaw in 2016, Manchester in 2022, and Rotterdam the year after. Mikulić also won a silver at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo in 2021 and a world gold in 2015 in Samsun, Turkey. He has been a world silver medalist three times and once a bronze medalist.
Another Croatian parataekwondo athlete, Marko Gračan, won a bronze medal in the under-80 kg category. This is Gračan's first major competition medal. He defeated Ukrainian Vladislav Nechay in the quarterfinals with a score of 2-0 but lost to Serbian Nikola Spajic in the semifinals with a 0-2 score.
In standard taekwondo, Marko Golubić won a bronze medal in the under-74 kg category. A member of TK Champion, Golubić reached the medal round after three victories during the day. He started the competition with a 2-1 win over Ukrainian Andrii Hryhorchuk and then defeated Italian Angelo Mangino with the same score. In the quarterfinals, he convincingly defeated Danish Otto Jorgensen with a 2-0 score to secure one of the four best positions in Europe and a European bronze medal. In the semifinals, he faced Serbian representative Stefan Takov, who won with a 2-0 score.
Other Croatian representatives at the championships included Magdalena Matić from TK Marjan, who won against a Ukrainian opponent with a 2-0 score but was later defeated by a British opponent with a 1-2 score in the over-73 kg category. Maroje Devernay from TK Champion (-54 kg) was stopped by a Bulgarian opponent with a 0-2 score after a 2-1 victory over an Armenian opponent. Sofija Hinić from TK Medvedgrad (under-49 kg) won 2-0 against a Swedish opponent before being defeated with a 0-2 score by a Spanish opponent.
This is fantastic, but what do you expect from the taekwondo powerhouse that Croatia is? Seriously, it's like they've got a secret training camp somewhere. How do they keep dominating these championships? Is it the water, the air, or just pure talent?