BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA — LSUS business student Layla Arendell is accustomed to having a leg up on her competition.

The straight-A student captured two gold medals and one bronze at the 2025 International Taekwon-do Federation Union World Championships earlier this month. The 19-year-old won the top prize in sparring and specialty board breaking while taking bronze in patterns.

Arendell, a third-degree black belt, said she did not do much training in sparring compared to patterns, which is where she spent most of her training. "I expected my opponents to be very aggressive in sparring, and they were fairly aggressive," Arendell said. "I worked on moving and getting out of the way, then countering."

Sparring is simulated combat where participants score points for hitting certain parts of

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