History was made today at the Polideportivo Estadio Nacionalin Santiago, Chile as Ethan Small became the first Canadian to ever win a gold medal at a WKF World Karate Championships in a mainstream division. After receiving confirmation from the national sports authorities that the best conditions for the development of the event were guaranteed, the World Karate Federation decided to proceed with the Junior World Championships despite the situation of unrest in the country.

Small, from Mississauga, Ontario, therefore competed in his first Junior World Championships today in Cadet +70kg kumite. He won all his elimination matches very convincingly, while only allowing his opponents to score a total of 2 points overall. He first beat Daniil Kramarenko (UKR) 5-0 and then defeated Kamil Usmanov from Kazakhstan 4-1. His third match was against Jordan Timotej (SLO), whom he beat 3-0. He finally secured his spot in the finals by defeating Russian Konstantin Kokovurov 4-1. The Canadian faced Ibrahim Shamoun from Jordan for the gold. Small won by a score of 1-0 and became the new World Champion in his division.

In his short international career, Ethan Small has already achieved colossal results; he’s won gold as a Youth athlete at the 2017 Junior Pan American Championships, then earned silver at the 2019 Junior Pan American Championships in August, and he now tops it off with a world title.

Alina Altinbaeva (ON) also had a great performance and finished 7^thin the Cadet +54kg kumite division, in her first ever international competition.

The Championships continue until Sunday, with all Junior, U21 and Team Kata divisions still left to go. All the results are available on Sportdata.

Photo: kphotos.net