Manchester 2023 World Taekwondo Grand Prix Final: Top things you need to know about the Olympic qualifier
Preview, schedule, top stars and how to watch the 2023 World Taekwondo Grand Prix Final, to be held on 2 and 3 December in Manchester. The Grand Prix offers ranking points towards qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. You can watch the event live on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com in selected territories.
The world’s best taekwondo athletes will be in Manchester on 2 and 3 December for a grand finale to an exciting 2023 season.
World Taekwondo has invited 128 athletes for the fourth and final event in the GP series of 2023 at the Manchester Regional Arena.
In addition to the 2023 Grand Prix honours, the athletes will also be looking to collect Olympic qualification ranking points ahead of the Paris 2024 Games.
The presence of British athletes, led by double Olympic gold medallist Jade Jones and three-time world champion Bianca Walkden-Cook, should thrill the home crowds.
Eyes will also be on the world ranking leaders Jang Jun, Olympic champions Ulugbek Rashitovov and Cheick Sallah Cisse, and world gold medallists Simone Alessio and Luo Zongshi.
The Grand Prix Final is the highest-ranked event outside the World Championships and will offer athletes a chance to earn crucial points to maximise their rankings ahead of the first allocation of Olympic quotas. Those are set to be awarded in January 2024.
Here are the key things you need to know, including the stars to watch, what to expect from the second stop of #RoadToParis2024 for taekwondo, how to follow the action from the Regional Arena, and more.
Can Panipak Wongpattanakit extend her record of Grand Prix titles?
After Rome, Paris and Taiyuan, Manchester is the fourth and final stop on the Grand Prix series. It's the second time that the British city is hosting the Grand Prix Final since the inaugural edition exactly a decade ago.
Despite failing to reclaim her world title at Baku 2023, Olympic champion Panipak Wongpattanakithas been in brilliant form this season. She dominantly defended her Asian Games title in Hangzhou, overcoming China’s Guo Qing, who she also beat in the final last October at the Grand Prix stop in Taiyuan.
After winning Roma, the 26-year-old Thai star is the top pick for the -49kg class in Manchester where she could win an unprecedented 13th Grand Prix gold, the most by any female taekwondo athlete.
Another celebrated athlete in the Grand Prix series is Jade Jones, who has a chance to claim her third Grand Prix gold this season after victories in Rome and Paris.
The 30-year-old beat 2022 world champion Luo Zongshi in the final of the -57kg division in the French capital last September. It was a revenge of sorts for last year’s world championship semi-final defeat to the Chinese opponent.
Jones' teammate Bianca Walkden-Cook will feature in the +67kg division, which also promises to deliver thrilling action.
France's Althea Laurin, the winner in Paris, leads the rankings ahead of the Turkish pair Nafia Kus and Sude Yaren Uzuncavdar, with Walkden-Cook down in seventh.
Magda Wiet-Henin, the athlete from Nancy who is a huge Grand Prix enthusiast, is tipped to reign supreme in the -67kg.
The reigning world champion missed the podium at the last Grand Prix stop after bronze medals in Rome and Paris, and wants to consolidate her lead with another podium finish in Manchester.
She is also confident of a return to the Olympic mat on home soil after losing her opening bout at Tokyo 2020.
“It will be good to see how the Olympics will be. I can't wait to fight in Paris,” Wiet-Henin said.
“For the French Taekwondo Federation, we've never got an Olympic gold. Every Olympics we get a medal. We get silver, we get bronze, but we've never got gold. So for them, we want to get the first gold. For myself, I'm looking forward to fighting in Paris in the Olympics and, of course, I want to win at home.”
Double Olympic bronze medallist Ruth Gbagbi of Cote d'Ivoire, who is fresh from winning her ninth continental title, is also one to watch in the women’s heavyweight class.
Jang Jun and Cheick Sallah Cisse eye more Grand Prix honours in Manchester
Another Asian Games champion who will be on parade in Manchester is the Republic of Korea’s Jang. Despite missing the worlds in Baku, he has maintained a slim lead in the -58kg class from Morocco’s two-time Olympic medallist Mohamed Jendoubi, who defeated him in the final in October’s Grand Prix stop in China.
Jang was third in Rome, while the reigning African champion settled for bronze in Paris.
Uzbekistan’s Rashitov, another winner from Hangzhou, and world No.2 Bradly Sinden, the two-time world champ, are the top picks for gold in the -68kg division. Sinden hasn’t found success yet on the GP tour, while the Uzbek Olympic gold medallist from Tokyo 2022 and world bronze medallist at Baku 2023, will be looking to repeat his wins from Rome and Paris.
Also keep an eye on the men’s +80kg, which features world leader and Rio 2016 gold medallist Cheick Sallah Cisse and Mexico’s Carlos Sansores.
After overcoming Sansores to claim his first world title, the Ivorian stood atop the podium in Paris while the reigning Pan American Games champion finished third.
Italian world gold medallist Simone Alessio returns to the Manchester Regional Arena, where he won his first European title last year, and is targeting back-to-back Grand Finals titles.
The world’s top-ranked man will be looking to avenge the defeat he suffered at the world championship to USA's CJ Nickolas in the -80kg. At Baku 2023, Nickolas became his nation’s first male world champion since 2009.
Manchester 2023 World Taekwondo Grand Prix Final: How to watch live
You can watch the event live on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com in selected territories.