Ana Sofia Cruz stood on a European Senior podium in Frankfurt last weekend, holding a medal Portugal had not won in fifteen years.
The bronze in Female Kata was Portugal’s first individual medal in the discipline at an EKF Senior Championships in fifteen years. Cruz worked her bracket forward through the day before falling 0-7 in the semifinals to Italy’s Terryana D’Onofrio, the eventual European champion. Bronze in karate goes to both semifinal losers, and Cruz took her place on the podium for what is, by any measure, the standout result of her senior career so far.
Cruz on the podium with her individual Female Kata bronze.
She did not stand there alone for long. The following day, alongside Natacha Fernandes, Beatriz Portal and Inês Oliveira, with coach Jorge Peixeiro, Cruz collected silver in Female Team Kata. It was only the second time Portugal has won that title in its history.
Portugal’s Female Team Kata squad before stepping onto the tatami.
The squad’s run ended in the final the way Cruz’s individual run had ended in the semis, against Italy and by the same 0-7 score. Italy’s team, with Carola Casale collecting her fourth career EKF Team Kata gold, closed the door on Portugal’s chance at the title. By then Portugal had already made history twice in one week.
Portugal’s team in synchronised kata on the championship tatami.
A turning week for Portuguese karate
Cruz’s two medals were part of four for Portugal across the senior and Para Karate program in Frankfurt, the country’s best-ever return at a European Senior Championships. Roughly fifty-one nations took part. The Portuguese federation framed it as a turning point for the discipline at home, and on the evidence of the kata sheet alone, that reading is hard to argue with.
Who Ana Cruz is, off the tatami
Cruz is a physical education teacher and a karate coach. She trains twice a day around her teaching schedule, and the arc of her career has been long. She won bronze for Portugal at the 2023 European Games in Krakow-Malopolska, the country’s first karate medal at those Games, and helped Portugal to silver in team kata at the 2024 World Senior Championships. The bronze in Frankfurt adds an EKF Senior individual medal to a career that has now been on the podium at European Games, World Championships and European Championships at senior level.
On another mat
While Cruz ended a fifteen-year wait, Croatia’s Ema Sgardelli extended one of her own. Sgardelli took a third consecutive EKF Female Kumite -50 kg title in Frankfurt, beating Bulgaria’s Teodora Tsaneva 5-1 in the final. Three in a row at senior continental level is the kind of streak that quietly becomes a dynasty.
Sgardelli after a winning bout in Frankfurt.
Born in Rijeka in 2004 and on a tatami from the age of five, Sgardelli came up through Karate Klub Zamet before moving to Karate klub Champion. The three EKF golds sit on a quickly thickening senior résumé: silver at the 2024 World Senior Championships, bronze in -50 kg at the 2025 World Games in Chengdu, and recognition as one of Rijeka’s most successful athletes of 2025. At twenty-two, she is now the woman to beat in her category.
What’s next
The senior calendar moves on quickly. PKF Senior and U21 Championships in Brazil and OKF Senior Championships in Auckland this week, Karate One Premier League Rabat in mid-June, and World Championships ahead next year. For Cruz the goal is straightforward: defend what she earned in Frankfurt, and add to it.
More from Frankfurt
For the full medal-table picture, including Italy’s record-breaking week with four individual golds and three team titles, and Germany’s Jasmin Bleul stepping off the tatami one last time after thirteen consecutive European Senior appearances, read our main recap: EKF Frankfurt 2026: Italy tops the medal table with four individual golds and three team titles.
Sources
- Confederação do Desporto de Portugal: Portugal conquista quatro medalhas no Europeu Sénior e de Parakarate
- WKF: 2026 EKF Senior Championships Frankfurt
- EKF: Italy shines in historic fourth day in Frankfurt
- FightNews.pt: Ana Sofia Cruz, Entre o Karaté, o Ensino e a Vida
Reporting on the 61st EKF Senior Championships, 20 to 24 May 2026.