16th May 2023

SIX promising athletes have been elevated to GB Taekwondo’s World Class Performance (WCP) programme after eye-catching displays in the junior ranks.

The six prospects (three boys and three girls) range in age from 16-18 and include Phoenix Goodman from Southampton who will represent Great Britain at the senior World Championships starting in Azerbaijan later this month.

However, all the new intake, chosen for the 12-month promotion, are recognised as potential future Olympians should their current progression from the GB Development programme continue an upward trajectory.

“This promotion is a result of the promise they have shown, the hard work they have put in and the commitment they have made,” said GB Taekwondo Performance Director, Gary Hall.

“They are a real quality group doing some quality work.  You can’t say they are going to make a full-on transfer but they have all the right characteristics to give it their best shot.

“As can be seen in the quality of the athletes who have been promoted from the development squad, it shows, working in connection with their clubs, the system is working well.”

Scot Neve McPhillie won a Junior World Championship silver medal last year and in 2023 scooped the Dutch Open title in Eindhoven.

Former kickboxer Dantrell Knight-Mitchell from Leeds struck gold at the Bulgarian Open in March where fellow Yorkshire teenager, Owen Blunt, gained his third bronze medal of the year.

Teigan Smith, another promising Scot, was a junior gold medallist at last year’s French Open and gained a silver in Bulgaria last March.

Jamie McIntosh, whose former club mates in Huddersfield include current GB stars, Caden Cunningham and Aaliyah Powell, is a former French Open winner and recently returned to the sport.

The six athletes are:

Owen Blunt, 17,  (Doncaster) Ultimate Taekwondo

Phoenix Goodman, 17, (Southampton) LMC Taekwondo

Dantrell Knight-Mitchell, 16, (Leeds) British Military Martial Arts/Black Widow Taekwondo

Jamie McIntosh, 18, (Huddersfield) Premier

Neve McPhillie, 17, (Glasgow) Elite Martial Arts Academy

Teigan Smith, 16, (Carronshore, Falkirk) Central Taekwondo Academy