At just 16, HHS junior Claire Mitchell has become a World Taekwondo Champion at the Tournament of Champions in Phoenix. In the final moments, it came down to just one point to decide the winner.
The American Taekwondo Association (ATA) is the largest international Taekwondo governing body, holding a variety of leveled tournaments beyond just the World Title, including regional and national competitions.
Mitchell competed against challengers from around the nation for the number one spot, beating competitors in her state and district before ultimately becoming a world champion. The victory was especially meaningful because of her family’s history in the sport.
“So my mom actually did Taekwondo when she was younger,” Mitchell added. “She did it until she was a first degree, and was very good at it. I remember she loved it a lot.”
Elizabeth Mitchell, Claire Mitchell’s mother, is a first-degree black belt in Taekwondo and supported her daughter throughout the journey to becoming a World Champion. Having family ties to the sport made the achievement even more special, but did not leave any room for slacking off.
Beginning with local competitions and quickly advancing to larger, out-of-state tournaments came with setbacks and required constant training.
“People work ridiculously hard, like, 25 hours a week, non-stop training… their entire lives are dedicated to coming in to train non-stop,” Elizabeth Mitchell said.
Mitchell began taking the sport more seriously her freshman year of high school, adding intense training to an already full schedule. Balancing academics, athletics and outside obligations made managing the pressure difficult at times.
“She was trying to juggle. I think she did cross country that year and took a break from indoor track,” Elizabeth Mitchell said.
Mitchell returned to indoor track and recently broke the school record for the 400m with a time of 56.94.
Her intensity and hard work eventually paid off in the final match against rival Emily Stone, another World Taekwondo competitor. With similar forms, the championship came down to whose performance was stronger that day. Form in Taekwondo is not fighting, but rather judged on the precision of specific movements performed in combat-style sequences.
“We both have things that we are better at than the other… but she did get a couple moves wrong and it was just a little bit off,…she didn’t really slow down,” Mitchell said.
In a sport where one slightly wrong move results in a point deduction, perfection can take years to master. This time, Mitchell’s precision made the difference.
