Pan American Judo Championships

What are the Pan American Judo Championships?

The Pan American Judo Championships are the senior continental championships of judo in the Americas. The International Judo Federation enters them in its calendar as the “Panamerican Senior Championships”, in two parts: an individual competition over two days and a mixed team event on the following day.^[2]

The individual competition is fought in the IJF’s fourteen senior weight categories: men’s −60, −66, −73, −81, −90, −100 and +100 kg, and women’s −48, −52, −57, −63, −70, −78 and +78 kg.^[1] The mixed team event, in which national teams of men and women meet, has been part of most recent editions; the IJF calendar lists it in 2022, 2024, 2025 and 2026, and lists a senior teams championship in 2019.^{[8][5][4][3][2]}

In several years the championships have been held jointly with the Oceanian union, under a combined Panamerican and Oceania title, as at Rio de Janeiro in 2024 and Santiago in 2025.^[4][3]

Who organizes the Pan American Judo Championships?

The organiser is the Panamerican Judo Confederation, the IJF’s continental union for the Americas. The IJF’s competition page for the 2026 edition names the “Panamerican Judo Confederation” as organiser, and its calendar files the 2027 edition under the same body.^[1][13]

The rules are the IJF’s: the championships are entered in the IJF calendar and results system, and are fought in the IJF’s weight categories.^[1] Each edition is staged with a host national federation; the 2023 joint Pan American and Oceania championships in Calgary, for example, were announced by Judo Canada as their organiser.^[11]

When and where is it held?

The championships are held each year, usually in April, in a different country. The 2026 edition took place in Panama City on 18–19 April (individuals) and 20 April (mixed teams).^[2] The 2025 edition, joint with Oceania, was held in Santiago, Chile, on 25–27 April, and the 2024 edition, also joint, in Rio de Janeiro on 26–28 April.^[3][4]

The calendar has moved twice in recent years. The 2020 edition was held in Guadalajara, Mexico, on 19–22 November 2020, and the 2021 edition returned to April in the same city.^[7][6] The 2023 joint championships were held in Calgary, Canada, in September 2023: Judo Canada had scheduled the senior events for 14–17 September, and CBC reported the competition from Canada Olympic Park.^[11][12] The IJF calendar enters the 2027 edition for 8–9 April (individuals) and 10 April (mixed teams), with the venue still to be confirmed.^[13]

The last ten senior editions, newest first, and the scheduled 2027 edition. Names, hosts and dates from the IJF calendar; 2023 from Judo Canada and CBC. The format column gives the events held.^[10][9]

Since when do the Pan American Judo Championships exist?

The year of the first Pan American Judo Championships could not be established from a source the confederation or the IJF publishes; the confederation’s own website did not render readable text when it was consulted. The IJF calendar records senior Pan American championships in each year from 2017 to 2026, including 2017 in Panama and 2018 in San José, Costa Rica.^[10][9]

The title has varied with the format. The IJF calendar enters the 2017 and 2018 editions as individual senior championships, lists a separate senior teams championship beside the 2019 individual event, files the 2022 edition under a joint Panamerican and Oceania title, and enters the 2026 edition as the “Panamerican Senior Championships 2026 Individuals”, with a mixed team event under the same name.^{[10][9][8][5][1]}

How do athletes qualify?

There is no qualifying round. Judoka are entered by their national federations, and the IJF counts participation by nation: the 2026 individual competition had 219 judoka from 25 countries, 24 of them from the confederation and one from outside it.^[1]

In joint years, entries from the Oceanian federations compete in the same draw under the combined title, as at Santiago in 2025.^[3] Entry limits per weight category are set in each edition’s outline, which could not be retrieved for the 2017–2027 editions.

Why does it matter?

The measurable value is ranking. The championships are IJF-calendar events whose results are published in the IJF’s results system, and the IJF’s Los Angeles 2028 qualification system states that “The IJF World Ranking List of the Olympic qualification period will be used to allocate the 342 qualification places in the hierarchical order of qualification” that the system sets out.^[1][14]

That system (version of 10 December 2025) runs the qualification period from 15 June 2026 to 12 June 2028 and gives the Americas 22 continental places, eleven for men and eleven for women, allocated from a continental ranking built on world ranking points. It makes no mention of continental championships as a separate route. The April 2026 edition fell before the period opened; the 2027 edition falls within it.^[14][13]

Judo Canada announced the 2023 Calgary championships as a chance to earn points towards Paris 2024 qualification.^[11] Prize money was not published in the documents retrieved.

Who competes?

The field is drawn from the national federations of the Panamerican Judo Confederation, with senior men and women in every weight category. At the 2026 individual competition in Panama City the IJF recorded 219 judoka — 117 men and 102 women — from 25 countries.^[1] The 2026 mixed team event had 100 athletes from ten nations.^[2]

Field sizes in recent years have been of the same order: the IJF calendar records 206 athletes from 24 nations at Santiago in 2025, 198 from 28 nations at Rio de Janeiro in 2024 and 217 from 24 nations at Lima in 2022.^[3][4][5]

In joint years the Oceanian federations enter the same competition: the 2025 Santiago edition was entered under the combined Panamerican and Oceania title.^[3]