Monday, 31 August 2026. The junior titles are in. The 2026 PKF Cadet and Junior Championships have closed in San José, Costa Rica.
Isabella Sanchez of the United States won twice on the final day. Junior female kata. Then junior female kumite -48 kg. Two golds. Same athlete. Same Sunday.
WKF published that final-day report on 30 August. It called the meeting a true celebration of youth karate in the Americas, with over 1,000 youngsters on the mats.
Our Friday preview set the field at more than 1,000 athletes from 27 Pan American countries, 27–30 August. Our opening-day dispatch covered U12 and U14. Cadet titles sat on a Saturday WKF file that has not yet been on this site. They go in this wrap.
WKF listed the finals. It did not list scores. It did not list a 2026 medal table. Those gaps stay empty.
Sanchez, twice
Sanchez beat Belen Guzman Vergara of the Dominican Republic in junior female kata.
WKF wrote that she added another continental title to her record after a strong performance in the final. That is the federation’s line. Not a quote from the athlete.
She came back in kumite. Junior female -48 kg. The final was all-American. Sanchez defeated compatriot Mariam Abu-Rahma. Second gold of the championships, on WKF’s own wording.
Kata and kumite. One day. That is the close of the junior programme in San José, with her name at the top of both lists.
Junior kata, the other title
Enzo Quintana gave Venezuela the junior male kata gold. He beat Kantaro Kusano of the United States in the final.
Two junior kata titles. One to the United States. One to Venezuela. The American silver in the men’s final is the other named result on that sheet.
Junior female kumite
Five more women’s weight categories after Sanchez.
Domenica Castillo won -53 kg. Ecuador took the top two places. Alexa Moncada, also Ecuador, was second.
Scarleth Reveco Morales of Chile won -59 kg against Charlotte Singleton of the United States.
Skyla Harling of the United States won -66 kg against Gabriela Gonzalez Caballero of Chile.
Valeria Linett Juarez Martinez of Mexico won 66+ kg against Mariana Guerrero of Canada.
Four more champions, four flags on that stretch: Ecuador, Chile, the United States, Mexico. Count Sanchez at -48 kg and the United States has two junior women’s kumite golds on the Sunday list. An all-Ecuadorian final at -53 kg. Named silvers only where WKF named the other finalist. Bronzes are not in the dispatch.
Junior male kumite
Five weight categories.
Marco Antonio Almeida Chavez of Mexico won -55 kg against Juan Esteban Barreto of Colombia.
Joaquin Vega of Ecuador won -61 kg. Another Ecuadorian one-two. Jaykel Bucaram took silver.
Ricardo Jeniel Rivera Rivera of Puerto Rico won -68 kg against Rathan Bolar of the United States.
Logan Mendonca of the United States won -76 kg against Kaden Shen of Canada.
Vicente Carreno Olavarria of Chile won 76+ kg. The final was all-Chilean. Matias Codocedo Rojas was second.
Mexico, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, the United States, Chile. One gold each on that male kumite list. Two all-national finals: Ecuador at -61 kg, Chile at 76+ kg.
Team kata
The last titles of the championships were team kata.
WKF labelled them Cadet and Junior Female Team Kata and Cadet and Junior Male Team Kata. Combined bands. No athlete names on the teams.
The United States beat Mexico in the female final.
Brazil beat the Dominican Republic in the male final.
WKF framed Brazil’s gold as finishing the championships. That is the close on the Sunday file.
Cadets, still unpublished here
The cadet champions were decided on the second day. WKF dated that report 29 August. Eleven individual events: nine kumite, two kata.
They have not been on karate.news until this wrap. The opening-day piece stayed on U12 and U14. This is the cadet catch-up.
Athletes from the United States, Brazil, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Ecuador and Venezuela all claimed gold, WKF said. That is the federation’s own list of flags on that day. Not a table.
Cadet kata
Natalie Goodwin of the United States won cadet female kata against Maria-Paz Vera of Ecuador.
Alexandre Bronzoni of Brazil won cadet male kata against Jeffrey Olaes of the United States.
Two kata titles. One to the United States. One to Brazil. An American silver in the men’s final.
Cadet female kumite
Four weight categories.
Victoria Jacoby of the United States won -47 kg against Guadalupe Aragones of Uruguay. WKF called it the first of the day’s cadet women’s kumite crowns.
Presley Allen of the United States won -54 kg against Miranda Cervantes Banda of Mexico.
Erica Ferreira of Brazil won -61 kg against Mihaela Arcalean of the United States.
Isabella Gutierrez of Venezuela won +61 kg against Mackenzie Mendonca of the United States.
United States twice. Brazil once. Venezuela once. Two American names on the silver step in those women’s kumite finals: Arcalean and Mackenzie Mendonca. Jacoby’s final was against Uruguay. Allen’s was against Mexico.
Cadet male kumite
Five weight categories.
Santiago Ronaldo Obelyns Merida of Guatemala won -52 kg against Juan Pablo Terceros of Bolivia.
Tomas Acosta Paricio of Mexico won -57 kg against Joao Fernando Romero Carrion of Nicaragua.
Jose Andres Garcia Montt of Guatemala won -63 kg against Kenneth Espino of Panama.
Ivan Josue Gonzalez Espinoza of Nicaragua won -70 kg against Kaua Goncalves of Brazil.
Kem Andreu of Ecuador won +70 kg against Santiago Pinto of Colombia. WKF framed that bout as completing the cadet men’s kumite programme.
Guatemala twice. Mexico, Nicaragua, Ecuador once each. Five golds, four flags.
Four days, then the curtain
The championships ran 27–30 August 2026 in San José.
Thursday opened U12 and U14. The Saturday WKF file closed the cadets. Sunday closed the juniors and team kata.
WKF’s preview put more than 1,000 athletes from 27 Pan American countries in the Costa Rican capital. The final-day piece repeated the size: over 1,000 youngsters, a platform for the next generation on the continent.
No gym name in those files. No scores. No 2026 medal table.
Count the finals WKF printed. Do not call it a table.
Junior individual golds on the Sunday list: Sanchez twice — kata and -48 kg — then Quintana, Castillo, Reveco Morales, Harling, Juarez Martinez, Almeida Chavez, Vega, Rivera Rivera, Logan Mendonca, Carreno Olavarria. Twelve individual junior titles. Plus two team kata golds, United States and Brazil.
Cadet individual golds on the Saturday list: eleven names, eleven events.
Bronzes are not in either WKF dispatch. karate.news is not adding them.
The named champions are the ones WKF published. The curtain is down.
Sources
- WKF: Junior champions crowned as PKF championships reach final day in San José
- WKF: Cadet champions crowned as PKF championships reach second day in San José
- WKF: 2026 PKF Cadet & Junior Championships, San José
- WKF: San José ready to welcome the future stars of Pan American karate
- karate.news: San José 2026: 1,000+ juniors from 27 countries on the Pan American mats
- karate.news: San José 2026: Brazil, USA and a Costa Rica kata gold on opening day
