Bielsko-Biała 2026: Natalia Balut's home gold and a Kvesić family story on day four

On Thursday, Natalia Balut had said that her focus was not done yet, because she still had not achieved what she came for. On Saturday evening in Bielsko-Biała, she achieved it. The Polish karateka beat Egypt's Roaa Eltaher 4-2 in the junior kumite +66 kg final and won her first gold medal in front of family and friends. It was the host nation's first gold of the 2026 World Cadet, Junior & U21 Championships and, according to the WKF, Poland's first title at the event since 2017.

Her final closed the story we followed two days earlier, when she became the first home athlete to reach a gold-medal bout. It also crowned a long day of finals: 23 world titles were awarded in the cadet and junior categories, and the winners came from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas.

The home crowd's evening

Balut arrived at the final as the current continental bronze medallist. Born in Sopot, she has competed in this venue since childhood at the Polish Open, and on Thursday she had said she did not feel the pressure. Against Eltaher, the 4-2 scoreline turned that calm into a world title. For a host country still without a gold medal at these championships, it came on the tatami she knows best, with her own people in the stands.

A third Kvesić

A few hours earlier, another family story had been completed. Viktor Kvesić, 15, won the cadet kumite −70 kg title at his first World Championships, beating Uzbekistan's Shohjahon Atakhanov 1-0 in the final. On his way there he beat Venezuela's Rolo Diego 6-0, Australia's Shlimak Daniel 3-0 and Azerbaijan's Alimuradov Nurlan 4-2, then Egypt's Amer Khairy 4-1 in the semi-final.

The name is a familiar one in Croatian karate. His brother Anđelo, 31, is a two-time World Championships bronze medallist and a two-time continental champion. Ivan, 30, became world champion in 2018 and continental champion in 2025. Both travelled to Bielsko-Biała and followed their younger brother throughout the tournament.

"Yes, I'm following in their footsteps," Viktor said after the final. "This is amazing, like this is a dream come true, really." From his brothers, he says, he has learned "to be disciplined, to be respectful and everything great from karate."

From Venice-Jesolo to Bielsko-Biała

In kata, two Japanese athletes repeated a story that began two years ago. Wakana Ito and Takeru Hamazawa both won cadet world titles at the 2024 edition in Venice-Jesolo, Italy. On Saturday they won the junior titles. Ito beat Austria's Tamara Lehner 4-1 in the final, after a campaign that included several 5-0 wins. "I am very happy because I won in cadet two years ago in Venice and now I won again in junior," she said.

Hamazawa beat Portugal's Vasco Mateus 4-1. For him, the gold came in his last year in the junior divisions, after defeats at his national junior championships. "I'd been under a lot of pressure, as I was when I competed at the 2024 World Championships in Venice, but I'm glad we managed to pull it off," he said.

Their two titles opened a run of four consecutive Japanese golds in the junior competition. Jun Mitsuie won −55 kg at his first World Championships, 3-0 against Azerbaijan's Vusal Ganbarov, and Takamasa Yatoji took −61 kg with a 2-0 win over Morocco's Souhaib Azibou. A similar cadet-to-junior path was completed by Palestine's Mariam Bsharat, the 2024 cadet world champion, who won the junior −66 kg final 3-1 against Spain's Noa Lopez Gonzalez.

A wide map of champions

The cadet finals spread the titles widely. In kata, Spain's Candela Peña García beat Egypt's Jana Kassem 5-0 and retained her world title: the current continental champion now holds back-to-back world and European titles. Uzbekistan's Javokhir Djakhangirov beat Edmond Zhuo of the United States 5-0 and became the first non-Japanese champion of the male category since 2019.

In kumite, the United States won two titles, through Victoria Jacoby in −47 kg and Mihaela Arcalean in −61 kg. Germany's Hanna Olschewski won −54 kg against Presley Allen of the United States, Germany's first cadet world title in the category since Johanna Kneer in 2013. Egypt's Abdelrahim Elzourkany ended his −52 kg final 9-0 before the allotted time, and Jordan's Mustafa Alnajjar won −57 kg, his country's first cadet gold since 2019. Marko Djorlev of North Macedonia, Nina Macura of Serbia and Shamo Kamilov of Azerbaijan also went home as world champions.

Among the juniors, Egypt's Mouaz Mostafa won −68 kg after a 2-2 final against Japan's Maari Maeda. Italy's Sofia Pavone took −48 kg 3-2 against Portugal's Isis Matos. France won two titles: Maryam Echamaa in −53 kg after a 1-1 final against Egypt's Malak Afifi, and Morgane Scarfone in −59 kg, 6-0 against Vietnam's Tran Thi Cam Tu. Kazakhstan's Sungkar Kanibek won −76 kg 4-0 against Scotland's Cullen Brodie, and Montenegro's Vuk Vucinic took +76 kg in a 7-4 final against Ukraine's Vladyslav Rudenko.

Sunday's last word

The championships end on Sunday with the U21 finals, whose line-up was set on the opening day. After the cadets and the juniors, the oldest age group of the week will have the last word in Bielsko-Biała, and the whole programme remains streamed live on the WKF YouTube channel.