Canada captures first medal of Rhine-Ruhr 2025 in men's taekwondo poomsae

The first Canadian medal of the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU Summer World University Games was won Friday afternoon in the men’s taekwondo poomsae team event. It was Canada’s first medal in FISU taekwondo since Oympian Ivette Gonda won bronze in the 53 kg category at the 2011 Games in Shenzhen, China.

It was captured by Ethan So (Richmond Hill, Ont. / McMaster), Gordon Cheuk (Richmond, B.C. / Simon Fraser) and Kai-Hsin Chang (Toronto / Western).

The Canadian trio posted a total score of 8.833, tying the United States in the eight-team final round. The tiebreaker moved to the higher score in freestyle poomsae, where Canada held the advantage, 8.900 to 8.666.

“The score came up, and we had a lot of mixed emotions. We didn’t know at that moment if we medalled or not. We didn’t know if it was enough,” said Chang. “But in my heart, deep down, I knew that it was enough. After we heard that we tied, it was definitely a lot of suspense and a lot of anxiety. Once we heard that we did it, it was just such a big relief and such a great moment.”

To reach the final, the Canadian men narrowly defeated France in the round of 16, winning 8.749 to 8.666.

“It was obviously incredible to get the first medal for Canada — hopefully many more to come. It’s hard to describe,” said So. “It was pure euphoria, and lots of relief that we actually did place on the podium. It’s just a sense of pride wearing the maple leaf on our chests every day. It just holds us to a certain standard that we push ourselves to keep up to.”

For Cheuk, the medal was especially meaningful after all the personal and collective sacrifices made to reach this point.

“These are my brothers. Preparing for this competition, they know more than anyone that it wasn’t easy for me — dealing with injuries, being across the country, and having to travel and put a lot of money into it,” he said. “I hope what we accomplished today can show Canada that taekwondo is a major sport and it deserves to be noticed.”

Taekwondo will continue competition on July 19, moving to the Kyorugi discipline.