The Mexican taekwondo team reached a total of 10 medals at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games following a silver-medal performance by Guillermo Cortés and a bronze-medal finish from Aline Herrera.
According to reports from the National Commission for Physical Culture and Sports (CONADE), these results bring Mexico’s current tally in the competition to three silvers and seven bronzes.
Guillermo Manuel Cortés Labastida, a world youth champion from Jalisco, earned the silver medal in the -63 kg category.
His path to the final included a 2-0 victory over Tunisia’s Adam Hasnaoui in the quarterfinals and a 2-1 win against Turkey’s Ibrahim Efe Duzel in the semifinals, where he recovered from an opening round deficit to post partials of 10-12, 24-14, and 12-0, as reported by ntcd.mx.
Final match in the -63 kg division
In the gold-medal match, Cortés Labastida faced Jordan’s Abdallah Alzawahra, an opponent who had not dropped a round throughout the tournament. After the first two rounds ended in a 1-1 tie, the Jordanian athlete secured the title by winning the third round 14-8, resulting in a 1-2 final score, according to coverage from contextosinaloa.com.
Bronze medal for Aline Herrera
Aline Saraí Herrera Martínez secured the bronze medal in the -55 kg category. Herrera advanced through the quarterfinals with a 2-0 victory over Rebeka Kowengue before falling 1-2 to Tunisia’s Yasmine Haouni in the semifinal round. In the same event, Vania Mondragón Cárdelas of Chiapas was eliminated in the round of 16 after a 1-2 loss to Germany’s Luna Fellinger.
Mexico’s youth Olympic history
The recent podium finishes maintain Mexico’s streak of securing at least one medal in taekwondo at every edition of the Youth Olympic Games. This history began at the inaugural Singapore 2010 games, where Briseida Acosta earned silver in the +63 kg division.
Subsequent medalists include Rubén Nava and Mitzi Carrillo at Nanjing 2014, followed by Leslie Soltero and Alicia Rodríguez, who both claimed bronze at the 2018 Buenos Aires games. The 2022 edition of the event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Upcoming competition schedule
Mexico’s participation in the taekwondo tournament continues this Wednesday. Jorge Octavio Martínez of Nuevo León is scheduled to compete in the -73 kg division, where he will face Yousuf Alhabishi of Libya in his opening match.
