On April 4th 2024 team Ireland sent over 50 athletes to compete in the European Championships in Lublin, Poland. This event was a massive milestone by all accounts, firstly, it was the first international competition where pre-juniors (13-15 year olds) were allowed to compete against other people their age and have a title shot. However, it was also a very notable campaign as it was the most successful expedition on the Irish teams record in years.

A total of 37 medals came home to Ireland and the prestigious award of 3rd overall best country in both the senior and junior rankings. The pre-junior team got a combined medal tally of 6 out of the 15 athletes that competed for their first time. The strong showing for the pre-junior category has given Ireland a big confidence boost for their upcoming young athletes. Ethan Sweeney and Cara Bryne are among the 15 athletes who brought home medals for Ireland with Ethan getting gold in -60kg sparring and Cara getting gold in -44kg sparring.

In the junior category, a total of 10 medals came home for the Irish squad putting them third in the overall country category. One of the most notable moments from this junior campaign was Shane Allison retaining his -75kg sparring title for the 3rd year in a row. Shane is the first person in Junior sparring to ever retain a European title for 3 years in a row since Axel Vargas from Argentina back in 2019. Shane will be competing for the senior squad in the next campaign making him unable to pass out Axel. Donna Stafford made her debut on the European Champion podium with a gold in -57kg sparring following a comprehensive win against Italy's Isabella Soy.

It was a historic event for the senior category this year acquiring a staggering 21 medals. These included gold medals from big names such as James Tuite (-69kg Sparring), Luke Moriarty (-70kg sparring), Finn Martin (-57kg Sparring) and Christine Franks (-60kg Sparring). This was a big campaign for Christine Franks as she was coming back to the international stage after a tough battle with cancer held her back for 2 years. She was undefeated in her weight class before she took her 2 year hiatus but came back to retain her European crown once more. Another monumental event that was seen in the European Championships was the 3rd consecutive Gold medal for the Irish Team Male Sparring against Italy. Captained by Luke Moriarty, the Irish put on a beautiful display of the highest level ITF Taekwon-Do Sparring. This by all means a clash of sparring titans with bouts including James Tuite vs Timothy Bos, Luke Moriarty vs Manual Luigi and Finn Martin vs Pierluigi Tatti. To top off the campaign Ireland walked away with the "3rd overall Best Country" for the first time in thr countries history.

Preperations and selections have already started for the World Cup taking place in Argentina in October and the Irish national team are looking for another good campaign again.