Mixed Poomsae Competition: A Sporting Success Seeking to Establish Itself

An athlete completes their Recognized Poomsae. The referees have scored their stances, movement presentation and technical execution. After a break, the athlete returns to the competition area to perform a freestyle routine, with music, jumps, spins and acrobatic movements. The two performances contribute to a single result.

That is the principle behind Mixed Poomsae Competition, a format officially included in World Taekwondo’s rules and handbooks. Here, Mixed refers to the combination of Recognized Poomsae and freestyle, not necessarily to men and women competing together.

Its structure includes male and female individual events, mixed pairs, male and female teams of three, and mixed teams of five. In the five-person mixed team events, freestyle also includes board breaking.

In our view, this is one of the most convincing ways to broaden Poomsae’s audience without abandoning its technical foundations. Making the most of that opportunity requires developing both the competition and the conditions that support it.

An Opportunity in Multi-Sport Events

The combination has important precedents: in the individual finals at the Naples 2019 World University Games, athletes already performed Recognized Poomsae and freestyle to decide the medals.

The Santo Domingo 2026 Central American and Caribbean Games also used the format in individual events, following a proposal from PATU’s Poomsae Committee. More recently, the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games used the combination, with the average of both scores determining the final result.

These events provide an opportunity to reach spectators discovering sports they do not usually follow. For Poomsae, they offer a chance to show complementary forms of expression: mastery of an established technical sequence and the ability to perform an original routine.

This is not about moving from technique to spectacle, but about expressing technique under two different sets of demands. Both require precision, power and coordination. Recognized Poomsae is not reduced to a ceremonial introduction, while freestyle must offer difficulty and creativity without losing technical coherence.

High Performance Requires Specific Preparation

The greatest sporting value of Mixed Poomsae lies not only in combining two scores, but in the preparation required to achieve them.

After demonstrating the technical accuracy required in Recognized Poomsae, the athlete must shift their focus to perform an explosive freestyle routine. That transition requires physical and mental control: completing one performance, processing its score and facing another challenge without losing confidence or quality.

That is why preparation should treat it as a combined discipline, rather than two separate training processes brought together on the day of the Games. Athletes and coaches need to integrate technical, physical and psychological training, manage training loads and reproduce the actual competition sequence.

Watching the best recognized routine and the best freestyle routine separately during a training session is not enough. They must assess whether the athlete can deliver both in the required order, with the same break and under the pressure they will face at the event.

The challenge has also been highlighted by other national teams. Malaysia’s coach, Yap Yih Tiing, told Bernama about the demands of performing in both disciplines from the start of the competition at Aichi-Nagoya 2026. Indonesia’s Laras Fitriana Novianty Sumarna explained to ANTARA the need to select athletes capable of competing in both forms.

A study published in Taekwondo Journal of Kukkiwon in 2025, based on interviews with four coaches and eight athletes, identified difficulties related to technical specialization, training and fatigue in combined competitions. Its recommendations included strengthening preparation, recovery and psychological support.

Living up to the standards of high-performance sport means preparing for the actual demands of the event. Promoting the format also means providing the conditions needed to train for it and compete consistently.

Visual Appeal Must Be Accompanied by Clarity

Mixed Poomsae offers a potentially accessible story: the same athlete meets two sets of demands and receives a combined result. But understanding how the scores are combined does not mean understanding how each performance is scored.

Its development should help spectators understand the connection between what they see, the criteria being applied and the resulting score. The aim is not to make the sport less demanding, but to make what is being evaluated easier to understand.

Graphics, commentary and a clear presentation of results can help. Even under a cut-off system, with competitors performing one at a time, it would be possible to explain what a participant needs to reach a particular position. The break also provides an opportunity to introduce the athlete and explain what is at stake.

These tools, however, must support rigorous and consistent judging, not replace the need for clear criteria. Referee training and specialization deserve a separate analysis, which we will address in another article in this series.

The aim is for spectators’ interest to go beyond a single spectacular move and extend to both the precision of Recognized Poomsae and the complexity of freestyle.

A Competition Calendar That Supports Its Development

The format should not depend mainly on appearances at major Olympic-cycle events to establish itself. Athletes need to compete beforehand, test themselves against other specialists and assess how their preparation is working before their main target event.

For this reason, the gradual introduction of Mixed Poomsae at selected G-ranked open tournaments deserves consideration, with conditions announced in advance and opportunities distributed across regions.

A dedicated individual ranking could also be considered. In a conversation with the chair of WT’s Poomsae Committee, we discussed this possibility as a potential area of development, not as an announced decision.

A separate ranking would recognize results achieved directly in the combined format. But a ranking needs competitions to support it: events that help assess performance and, potentially, provide opportunities to get points.

For pairs and teams, it would be necessary to consider who would receive the points and what would happen when team members change. The same approach used for individuals might not be necessary. Developing five-person team events should also take into account the difficulty of bringing these groups together and keeping them together.

With or without a ranking, regular competition would allow preparation to be adjusted, expand referees’ experience and help establish competitors the public can recognize and follow.

Lima 2027 and the Olympic Horizon

The Lima 2027 Pan American Games represent an upcoming opportunity. The expectation is that Mixed Poomsae will have another chance to establish itself there, although its use must be confirmed in the relevant technical documentation.

Should that happen, it would ideally mean more than another use of the format: a step towards a stable competitive structure, with conditions known in advance and earlier opportunities to help athletes arrive prepared.

The Olympic ambition may seem distant, but it is a valid goal if it guides concrete decisions: improving the competition, sustaining its calendar and strengthening its ability to connect with the public.

Appeal alone does not guarantee inclusion in the Olympic Games. The format’s immediate contribution lies in strengthening Poomsae’s presence at the multi-sport events where it already participates, through a demanding, understandable and recognizable competition.

Mixed Poomsae Competition can be much more than the combination of two scores. Turning that potential into a sustained sporting experience is the next step towards establishing it more firmly.

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