Rising stars Erer and Ossin grab world crowns

Two of taekwondo’s most talented young athletes celebrated gold medals on the second day of the Roma World Taekwondo Championships, before Rafail Aiukaev rounded the day off with a dramatic victory against legendary home favourite Simone Alessio.

Türkiye’s Berkay Erer was the first gold medallist of the day with victory in the men’s -68kg, followed by Côte d’Ivoire’s Kimi Laurène Ossin capping an outstanding day with women’s +67kg gold.

The day finished with a thrilling men’s +80kg final in which Aiukaev recovered from losing the first round to beat Alessio.

The first final of the day brought together two of the sport’s rising stars in Erer and Russia’s Amir Vykov.

Although Erer was seeded 28th at the start of the day, it was he who added the World Taekwondo Grand Prix to his impressive list of recent triumphs, following on from his golds at the European Taekwondo Championships in Munich last month and the Nairobi 2025 World Taekwondo Under-21 Championships.

After a tense start to the first round of the final, Erer pulled away from his opponent to prevail 8-1. A dramatic climax to the second round saw both athletes go all out for victory, with Erer edging it 8-7 to clinch gold.

In the semi-finals, Erer beat Burkina Faso’s Ibrahim Maiga in three rounds. Maiga had earlier knocked out the world champion and top seed Banlung Tubtimdang of Thailand, and his run to the last four earned his country’s first-ever World Taekwondo Grand Prix medal.

On the other side of the draw, the 2024 world junior champion Vykov claimed a notable victory in the semi-finals against Uzbekistan’s Najmiddin Kosimkhojiev, who won gold in the -74kg weight category at the Wuxi 2025 World Taekwondo Championships. 

Meanwhile, Ossin announced herself on the global stage at the Wuxi 2025 World Taekwondo Championships with a silver medal in the -73kg weight category, and she went one better in Rome to underline her clear talent.

In the final against China’s Mu Wenzhe, Ossin dominated the first round to take it 8-3.

Wenzhe won bronze in the +73kg weight category at Wuxi 2025 and was also a World Taekwondo Grand Prix Challenge winner in Charlotte last year. She fought back strongly in the second round, but it was not enough to deny Ossin the biggest victory of her very promising career so far as the Ivorian saw out a 4-2 win.

Ossin delivered a similarly assured display in the semi-final against Türkiye’s Sude Yaren Uzunçavdar – the under-21 world champion, European Championships runner-up and Wuxi 2025 bronze medallist in the -73kg class.

Uzunçavdar had defeated -73kg world champion and 2025 World Taekwondo Female Athlete of the Year Sarah Chaâri of Belgium in the quarter-finals, but lost in two rounds to Ossin.

In the other half of the draw, Wenzhe won an entertaining three-round semi-final against Russia’s Anastasiia Kosmycheva. 

An incredible atmosphere greeted Alessio and Russia’s Rafail Aiukaev for the men’s +80kg gold medal match, and it was the legendary two-time world champion and Paris 2024 bronze medallist who was at his formidable best in the first round, which he took 18-8.

However, Aiukaev had performed strongly throughout the day, and forced a decider in the second round after Alessio was found on video replay to have stepped out of the boundary before the clock stopped.

The deciding third round was fought to the last seconds, and it was Aiukaev who went one better than his silver medal in the +87kg weight category at the Wuxi 2025 World Taekwondo Championships, winning 15-12 to take the gold.

In the semi-finals, Aiukaev overcame Uzbekistan’s Marat Mavlonov, who himself had beaten the top seed and -87kg world champion Seif Eissa of Egypt in the quarter-finals.

Alessio meanwhile defeated the +87kg world champion Sang Hyun Kang of Korea to reach the final.

Day three of the Roma 2026 World Taekwondo Grand Prix will feature competition in the women’s -49kg and men’s -58kg.