Jade Jones was delighted to have shaken off her quarter-final hoodoo while Mahamo Cho secured silver in the World Taekwondo Championship medal in Muju, South Korea.
Double Olympic champion Jones won silver in the competition six years ago, but is yet to claim the world title having missed out on the semi-finals since stepping on the podium.
However, she is one step closer to achieving that goal with an 11-8 victory over Chinese Taipei’s Yu-Chuang Chen, having already defeated Morocco’s Nada Laaraj and Ara White of the United States in the women’s -57kg.
Jones is part of a GB Taekwondo team which has already equalled its best medal tally at a World Championships, and she returns to action on Friday against South Korean Ah-Reum Lee safe in the knowledge she will be leaving with a prize, too.
“I’m really happy I've got past that mental block,” Jones said. “Now, I've got the chance to go for that title, finally.
“I don't think people realise how tough it is being at the top and then everyone saying I always go out in the quarter-finals - it's a jinx.
"I'm really happy I've proved I can perform mentally and be strong.”
Elsewhere, Mahama Cho took silver in the men’s +87kg event, losing in the final to Niger’s Abdoul Issoufou - the best ever result for a British male at the Championships.
Falling behind early due to penalties, Cho led a valiant fightback but still succumbed 9-4 in South Korea to the Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallist, with the Londoner vowing to get revenge on his 6ft 7ins counterpart in any future bouts
“I thought I had my tactics right,” he said of a bout that followed a 22-4 victory over Russian Roman Kuznetsov.
“But giants are always going to be difficult to fight against. He did tremendously well and stuck to his game plan.
“But he is on my wanted list now and I want to beat next time. It starts from here and we keep building.
“It’s taken me a long time to get to this stage. But I am doing something right.
“I am going to keep working and hopefully I will fight him again and I can get the job done good and proper.”
Teenager Bradly Sinden guaranteed bronze in the -63kg, meaning he became one of Britain’s youngest ever taekwondo world medallists.
The 18-year-old from Doncaster defeated defending champion Jaouad Achab of Belgium with a golden point victory, setting up a bout with China’s Shuai Zhao in the semi-finals.
“I’m really happy to medal,” Sinden said. “I've been working towards this since I came into the GB Academy.
“I just stuck to my plan and it paid off.”
The British team has two more medal hopes in action on Friday, both looking to improve on their 2015 performances. Damon Sansum, silver medallist two years ago, fights at -80kg while 2015 bronze medallist, Rachelle Booth, goes at -62kg.
Sportsbeat 2017