The hosts' first gold came from Laura Palacio after she surprised world champion Eleni Chatziliadou of Greece in the female kumite +68kg, winning 2-1.

“I have gone through very difficult times lately," said Palacio.

"My mum got sick and I had to take care of her. 

"My performance suffered because my mind was not there. 

"But I worked hard to be here and this is a dream come true for me because I got to do this in front of my family and friends."

Sandra Sanchez added a European title to her world title, triumphing in the female kata by defeating Italy's Viviana Bottaro.

Damian Quintero won Spain's third gold in the male kata, overpowering Ali Sofuoglu of Turkey.

Jonathan Horne of Germany and Steven Dacosta secured back-to-back European titles. 

Horne was the victor in the male kumite +884kg final, taking his sixth consecutive crown by defeating Serbia’s Slobodan Bitevic 4-1.

Dacosta achieved his second European success with a 10-1 thrashing of Montenegro's Mario Hodzic in the male kumite -67kg.

There were new champions in the Para-karate categories. 

Spain's Carlos Huertas and Cristy Shedimar Tojo delighted the home crowd with titles in the intellectually impaired male and blind or visually impaired female categories, respectively.  

France's Charlene Odin won the intellectually impaired female crown, while Azerbaijan's Sahib Ahadov was triumphant in the blind or visually impaired male final.

The competition concludes in Guadalajara tomorrow.