The World Taekwondo Grand Prix returns with a world-class field, valuable ranking points and all eight Olympic weight divisions in action
MUJU, South Korea — The road to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games is about to accelerate at one of the sport’s most iconic venues. From 5 to 7 September, the Muju Taekwondowon 2026 World Taekwondo Grand Prix Series will bring together 247 athletes across the eight Olympic weight divisions: four male and four female.
The success of the Rome Grand Prix also confirmed that World Taekwondo’s new competition rules are moving the sport in the right direction. The removal of video replay has eliminated lengthy interruptions and restored an extraordinary flow to the matches, while the warning signal with ten seconds remaining regularly triggers a frantic finish, pushing athletes to attack, take risks and produce spectacular exchanges.
The result is a faster, more exciting and television-friendly version of taekwondo that has been widely welcomed by the international community. With two years remaining before the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, the changes represent a major step forward and reflect the extensive testing carried out by the World Taekwondo technical team, led by Technical Commission Chair Philippe Bouedo, Games Committee Chair Mohamed Shaaban and Zhu Linfang, referee chairman to LA2028.
Their work follows the vision of World Taekwondo President Dr Chungwon Choue, who is determined to deliver a dynamic, attractive and unforgettable taekwondo competition at LA28.
World Taekwondo divided the qualification period into two stages. The first concluded in June 2026, with those standings used to determine access to the Grand Prix, athlete selection and seeding.
A new Olympic ranking period began in July, with the previous points cleared and every athlete starting a fresh race towards Los Angeles 2028.
That makes Muju particularly important. The athletes earned their invitation through their performances and positions in the June 2026 ranking, but the points now available in South Korea will count towards the new Olympic qualification campaign.
For the established stars, it is an opportunity to regain control of their divisions. For the emerging contenders, it is a chance to move quickly into the Olympic conversation.
FIVE OLYMPIC CHAMPIONS ON THE SAME STAGE
The standout statistic is the presence of five Olympic champions.
The men’s –58 kg division will feature the winners of the last two Olympic Games. Italy’s Vito Dell’Aquila, Tokyo 2020 champion, will compete alongside South Korea’s Tae-Joon Park, who captured gold at Paris 2024.
In the heavyweight division, Iran’s Arian Salimi will make another major appearance after winning the men’s +80 kg Olympic title in Paris.
The women’s competition will include South Korea’s Yu-jin Kim, the reigning Olympic champion at –57 kg, and Hungary’s Viviana Marton, who delivered one of the breakthrough performances of Paris 2024 to win the –67 kg title.
They will be joined by a long list of Olympic and World Championship medallists, including Caden Cunningham, Adriana Cerezo, Edival Pontes, Sarah Chaari, Ruth Gbagbi and Lauren Williams.
CJ Nickolas, Carlos Sansores, Saleh Elsharabaty, Milena Titoneli, Maria Clara Pacheco and Daniela Souza are among the other headline names in a field packed with international experience.
A GRAND PRIX THAT CAN RESHAPE THE WORLD ORDER
Every round in Muju will carry greater significance because of the ranking reset.
Victories, quarter-final appearances, medals and titles will help define the early order of the new Olympic cycle. A strong result in South Korea could give an athlete an important advantage before the ranking begins to settle.
The leading competitors from the previous period arrive with status and favourable positions, but those numbers no longer provide protection in the race to LA28. Everyone must build again.
That creates an unusual dynamic: proven Olympic champions and established world-class athletes will begin the new campaign under pressure from a generation determined to break into the leading positions.
TOP FIVE RANKED ATHLETES COMPETING IN EACH DIVISION
MEN’S –58 KG
- World No. 2: Aristeidis Nikolaos Psarros — Greece
- World No. 3: Eunsu Seo — South Korea
- World No. 4: Abolfazl Zandi — Iran
- World No. 5: Tae-Joon Park — South Korea
- World No. 6: Jairo Agenjo Trigos — Spain
The potential headline fight is clear: Tae-Joon Park against Vito Dell’Aquila, the two most recent Olympic champions in the division.
However, the category is much deeper than that possible showdown. Psarros, Seo and Zandi arrive among the leading ranked athletes, while Gashim Magomedov, and Jun-seo Bae and Spain’s Jesús Fraile will also be serious contenders.
MEN’S –68 KG
- World No. 3: Edival Pontes — Brazil
- World No. 4: Jun Jang — South Korea
- World No. 5: Zaid Kareem — Jordan
- World No. 6: Yushuai Liang — China
- World No. 7: Magomed Abdusalamov — Russian Federation
Speed, movement and high-level tactical battles will define one of the most unpredictable categories in Muju. Olympic medallist Edival Pontes heads a field featuring with another olympics, Jun Jang, Zaid Kareem, Yushuai Liang, and world medalist, Adrián Vicente, Maikol Rodriguez, Cyrian Ravet and Omar Gergely Salim.
MEN’S –80 KG
- World No. 1: Henrique Marques Rodrigues Fernandes — Brazil
- World No. 4: CJ Nickolas — United States
- World No. 6: Victor Rodrigues — United States
- World No. 8: Qizhang Xiang — China
- World No. 9: Joaquin Churchill Martínez — Chile
Brazil’s Henrique Marques leads the selection ranking, while Saleh Elsharabaty, Joaquin Churchill, Qizhang Xiang, CJ Nickolas, Victor Rodrigues, add further quality to a division where no athlete can afford a slow start.
JUAN ANTONIO MILLÁN, THE MAN TO WATCH AT -80 KG
Spain’s Juan Antonio Millán arrives at the Grand Prix carrying serious momentum. The reigning Rome Grand Prix champion has already shown he can deliver when the pressure is highest, and now returns to the -80 kg division as one of the athletes everyone will be watching.
His victory in Rome was more than just another title. It confirmed Millán’s ability to compete, adapt and win against top-level opposition. Fast, confident and increasingly established on the international circuit, the Spaniard enters the Grand Prix with the status of a defending champion and the ambition to prove that Rome was no isolated success.
MEN’S +80 KG
- World No. 2: Seif Eissa — Egypt
- World No. 3: Sanghyun Kang — South Korea
- World No. 4: Rafail Aiukaev — Russian Federation
- World No. 5: Caden Cunningham — Great Britain
- World No. 6: Szymon Piatkowski — Poland
This may be the strongest category of the entire Grand Prix. Alongside the leading five will be Olympic champion Arian Salimi, Carlos Sansores, Ivan Garcia Martinez, Vladislav Larin, Jonathan Healy and Sergio Troitiño.
Caden Cunningham, the Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist, will once again find himself in the same heavyweight landscape as Salimi. Their presence immediately raises the possibility of another major confrontation.
WOMEN’S –49 KG
- World No. 2: You-Yun Liu — Chinese Taipei
- World No. 4: Milana Bekulova — Russian Federation
- World No. 5: Jingyue Ma — China
- World No. 6: Jaycee Bassett — Costa Rica
- World No. 8: Nodira Akhmedova — Kazakhstan
Adriana Cerezo will be one of the biggest names outside the top five. The Spanish Olympic medallist will share the division with Daniela Souza, Farah Touzani, Violeta Díaz, Kamilah Salim, Alisa Angelova and South Korea’s Ye-Ji Lee.
With several established athletes missing from the final roster, Muju presents a major opportunity for a new contender to take control of the division.
WOMEN’S –57 KG
- World No. 1: Maria Clara Pacheco — Brazil
- World No. 2: Yu-jin Kim — South Korea
- World No. 3: Ella Brewster — Canada
- World No. 6: Chuling Zhang — China
- World No. 7: Amina Dehhaoui — Morocco
Maria Clara Pacheco enters Muju at the top of the selection ranking, but directly behind her is reigning Olympic champion Yu-jin Kim.
Faith Dillon, Zongshi Luo, Skylar Park, Nahid Kiyanichandeh, Chaima Toumi and Kanélya Carabin make this one of the deepest women’s categories on the programme.
WOMEN’S –67 KG
- World No. 1: Viviana Marton — Hungary
- World No. 2: Wafa Masghouni — Tunisia
- World No. 3: Milena Titoneli — Brazil
- World No. 4: Lena Moreno Reyes — Spain
- World No. 6: Liliia Khuzina — Russian Federation
Viviana Marton will be one of the main attractions in Muju.
The Olympic champion leads a category featuring Wafa Masghouni, Milena Titoneli, Lena Moreno, Aya Shehata, Ruth Gbagbi, Petra Stolbova, Dora Mestrovic and Mell Mina.
Marton arrives with Olympic gold and the No. 1 position attached to her name, but the ranking reset means she must begin building her LA28 campaign like everyone else.
WOMEN’S +67 KG
- World No. 1: Sarah Chaari — Belgium
- World No. 2: Luana Marton — Hungary
- World No. 5: Kimi Laurene Ossin — Côte d’Ivoire
- World No. 7: Anastasiia Kosmycheva — Russian Federation
- World No. 8: Dagmara Haremza — Poland
Sarah Chaari enters the competition as the leading name in the division, but she will face a demanding field.
Luana Marton, Lauren Williams, Lorena Brandl, Magdalena Matic, Tania Castiñeira, Belen Moran, Naomi Alade and Da Bin Song are all capable of reaching the podium.
MUJU OPENS THE NEXT OLYMPIC CHAPTER
The final roster contains 122 men and 125 women, with South Korea represented in all eight Olympic categories as the host nation.
Brazil, Spain, the United States, Iran, China, Great Britain, Hungary, Croatia and South Korea have all assembled teams capable of challenging for multiple medals.
Five Olympic champions will be present, alongside numerous World Championship and Grand Prix medallists, but their previous achievements will not automatically translate into ranking security.
The points have been reset. The Olympic race has started again. Muju will show which athletes are ready to take the first major step towards Los Angeles 2028.
𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗠𝗣𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦!
Tune in LIVE and follow every match of the world’s best Taekwondoins taking stage in 𝗠𝘂𝗷𝘂 𝗧𝗮𝗲𝗸𝘄𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗼𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲!
𝗦𝗲𝗽𝘁. 𝟰 – 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗮 𝗧𝗮𝗲𝗸𝘄𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗼 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝘅 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀
𝗦𝗲𝗽𝘁. 𝟱-𝟳 -𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗧𝗮𝗲𝗸𝘄𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗼 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝘅 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀
https://bit.ly/4gvMIJ5
*𝘚𝘦𝘱𝘵. 5-7 𝘚𝘦𝘮𝘪 & 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘷𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘌𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘚𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵!
𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘚𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘛𝘝 𝘢𝘱𝘱 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯!
Eurovision sport: (𝙇𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙤𝙣)
Carlos Hernández
