SANTO DOMINGO. Taekwondo got underway on Saturday at the XXV Central American and Caribbean Games Santo Domingo 2026, with the first medal events in women’s traditional individual poomsae, men’s traditional individual poomsae, and mixed freestyle poomsae, crowning the discipline’s first champions.

In the women’s traditional individual poomsae event, Guatemala’s María Higueros claimed the gold medal with a score of 8.530. Mexico’s Lee Seo earned the silver medal with 8.390, while the bronze medals went to Arelis Medina of Puerto Rico with 7.940 and Tania Delgado of Cuba with 7.640.

In the men’s traditional individual poomsae, Mexico’s William Arroyo captured the gold medal after scoring 8.820points. Costa Rica’s Víctor Cantillano won the silver medal with 8.180, while Luis Colón of Puerto Rico and César Aguilar of Guatemala completed the podium with bronze medals after recording 8.160 and 8.070 points, respectively.

In the mixed freestyle poomsae event, Mexico once again topped the podium as the duo of Lee Seo and William Arroyo secured the gold medal with 8.680 points. Guatemala’s María Higueros and César Aguilar took the silver with 8.400points.

The bronze medals in the mixed freestyle competition were won by Arelis Medina and Luis Colón of Puerto Rico with a score of 8.280, and by Cuba’s Tania Delgado and Dany Valenciano, who finished with 8.160 points.

With these results, the first taekwondo champions and medalists of Santo Domingo 2026 were crowned in a day that featured Guatemala, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Costa Rica among the leading nations at the start of the Games’ poomsae competition.