Home of Hans Christian Andersen - WUKF European Karate Championships

The WUKF European Karate Championships took place on the 24-27th October 2019 in Odense, Denmark. There were 1800 competitors from 24 countries. The SKC Team was made up of 15 competitors. We had won 6 medals: 3 silver and 3 bronze.

We arrived in Denmark on the 22nd of October in order to begin our preparations for the WUKF European Karate Championships. We had to acclimatize, which at such a large scale competition is an important factor. We were welcomed in Denmark with rain. After completing all the formalities associated with the competition, we had time to explore the city. Odense is the third largest city in Denmark. Its main attraction is the beautiful old town. Hans-Christian Andersen, born in Odense, made this city so popular.

Hans Christian Andersen is probably the best known Dane ever, and author of some of the most world-famous fairy tales. Hans Christian Andersen was born on the 2nd of April 1805 and died in Rolighed, by Copenhagen on the 4th of August 1875. 

We had the opportunity to visit his family home. It is a small yellow house, which can be found in the old town. Here you can learn about his history, the area he lived in and you can watch his fairy tales which have been translated into 150 languages.

Did you know?
In Denmark there are roads for bicycles everywhere! Bikers are part of the road traffic. Everyone bikes there. There are even specialised parking sports for bikes.
30% of their electricity comes from wind turbines. 
13 Danish citizens have received the Nobel Prize. 
The Danish royal family is one of the twelve monarchies in Europe.
There are 406 islands in Denmark, which makes up 30% of the surface.
Denmark has the oldest flag in the world.

My preparations for this WUKF European Karate Championship began in Thailand, when I was on a family vacation. I had time for hard training sessions and time to relax.

Upon returning to London, normal training for competitions resumed. Everything was going to plan. The last stage of my preparation was competing in the BASK Open competition in London. The competition went well, I had won two gold medals in my kumite categories. My tactics and techniques had been polished to perfection.

There were a couple of days left until the WUKF European Karate Championship, I was excited and felt great. Sadly, I cannot say the  WUKF European Karate Championships went well for me. I had won two fights but lost my third fight with a Danish competitor, which would’ve given me a medal position. I came 4th which is the worst position a competitor could get. You are so close to winning a medal, yet so far. If I had been a competitor with minimal experience I definitely would’ve been very hurt by this as I had put in a ton of hard work for this competition. But, this is sport. You must take one step backwards to allow yourself to take a couple of steps forwards. Without these setbacks, the next win doesn’t feel as good. It clearly wasn’t my day. I came to conclusions and I know that next time will be better.

The other SKC Team members did very well. Not everyone had earned a medal, which only shows the high level of the competition.

Ewa lipinska won a silver medal in individual female kumite 35-39 years old.

Urszula Gryncewicz won a bronze medal in individual female kumite +40 years old.

Alexander Wojciechowski won a silver medal in in individual male kumite 7 years old and a bronze medal in individual male kata 7 years old. Maja Urban won a bronze medal in individual female kata 7 years old. Stanislaw Krzyzynski won a silver medal in individual male kata 9 years old.

To those that hadn’t won a medal, we all did everything we could on the tatami. In my eyes we are all winners, the medals will come in due time.