Pan American Karate Championships

What are the Pan American Karate Championships?

The Pan American Karate Championships, in Spanish the Campeonato Panamericano de Karate Senior, are the continental championships of karate in the Americas for senior athletes, run by the Panamerican Karate Federation. The PKF numbers its editions in Roman numerals; the 2026 edition was the XXXIX.^[1] Since 2025 the senior championships have been held together with the under-21 championships, as the “Campeonato Panamericano de Karate Senior y Sub 21”.^[1]

The 2026 programme, as the PKF’s third bulletin set it out, had sixteen categories each in the senior and under-21 divisions, “12 Kumite + 4 Kata”, plus eight kata categories in para-karate. The individual kumite weight classes were −50, −55, −61, −68 and +68 kg for women and −60, −67, −75, −84 and +84 kg for men, with team kumite and team kata alongside the individual events.^[7] Bouts and performances are judged under the WKF’s competition rules, which the WKF published in 2026 editions for kumite, kata and para-karate.^[12]

Who organizes the Pan American Karate Championships?

The championships are the competition of the Panamerican Karate Federation, whose statutes state that it “organiza los Campeonatos Panamericanos de Karate” (Article 1.8).^[9] Article 2.2 of the World Karate Federation’s Statutes, approved in Konya on 25 October 2022, recognises five continental federations, America among them, and requires them to recognise “the supreme authority of the WKF in all matters related to the sport of karate”; the WKF lists the PKF as its continental federation for the Americas.^[10]

Each edition is staged with the host country’s national federation. The bulletin for 2026 named the organisers as the “Federación Panamericana de Karate (PKF) y Confederación Brasileña de Karate (CBK)”.^[7] The WKF carries the championships in its calendar of continental championships under the name “PKF Senior & U21 Championships”.^[5]

When and where is it held?

The championships are held about once a year, in a different country of the Americas each time. The XXXIX edition took place in Macaé, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; the WKF lists it from 28 to 31 May 2026, while the PKF’s third bulletin gave the period as 25 to 30 May 2026.^[6][7] The WKF lists the next senior edition in Mexico City from 1 to 4 April 2027.^[5]

Two changes of plan appear in the PKF’s own record. The 2020 edition, set for San José, Costa Rica, was announced as cancelled on 2 April 2020. The next edition, numbered XXXIV as the cancelled 2020 edition had been, was first announced for Curaçao in 2021 and then held in Punta del Este, Uruguay, with dates announced as 18 to 25 October 2021.^[3][2]

Senior editions, newest first, numbered as the PKF numbers them; hosts and years from the PKF’s championship bulletins and results, 2026 and 2027 dates from the WKF calendar.^[4]

Since when do the Pan American Karate Championships exist?

According to the PKF’s history, the first Pan American Championship was held in Curaçao from “1ro al 3 de Mayo de 1981, con la participación de 10 países”.^[8] The championship is younger than its organiser: the same history dates the federation’s founding, as PUKO, to 1 October 1975 in Long Beach, California, and its renaming as the Panamerican Karate Federation to 1995, at the Pan American Championship in Medellín. Both dates rest on the federation’s own account.^[8]

The history also records a championship in Curaçao in 1991 with “una participación record de 26 países”.^[8] In its recent numbering, the PKF counted the 2016 championship in Brazil as the XXX edition and the 2026 championship in Macaé as the XXXIX.^[4][1]

How do athletes qualify?

There is no qualifying round: athletes are entered by their national federations, which must be PKF members. The PKF statutes admit one national federation per country and require the PKF to recognise “todas las Federaciones Nacionales reconocidas por la WKF”.^[9] For 2026, the bulletin set the quota: “Cada país podrá inscribir un máximo de 2 atletas en las categorías individuales y un equipo por género”.^[7]

The same bulletin set the age bands: senior kata from 16 years and senior kumite from 18, under-21 from 18 to 20, and para-karate from 16.^[7]

Why does it matter?

The measurable value is qualification to other events. Under the 2026 bulletin, the first three places in senior team kumite and senior team kata qualified directly for the WKF’s World Cup Senior 2026.^[7] Earlier editions doubled as qualifiers for the Pan American Games: the PKF announced the 2019 Panama edition as the “Clasificatorio Panamericano a Lima 2019”, and the 2023 San José edition as a qualifier for Santiago 2023.^[3][1] The qualification system for karate at the Lima 2027 Pan American Games could not be retrieved, so no Lima 2027 role is stated for the 2026 or 2027 editions.

Participation is the other proxy: ten countries took part in 1981 and 26 in 1991, according to the PKF.^[8] Prize money was not published in the documents retrieved.

Who competes?

The championships are open to the PKF’s member federations, which the WKF numbers at 39, from Argentina to Venezuela and from Canada to Uruguay, with Caribbean federations including Aruba, Curaçao, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.^[11] Since 2025 the championships have covered senior and under-21 athletes, men and women, with para-karate kata categories in 2026.^[7] The number of nations and athletes at the 2026 edition was not given on the WKF event page retrieved.^[6]

Younger athletes compete in a separate PKF championship for cadets and juniors, which the WKF lists in San José, Costa Rica, from 27 to 30 August 2026, and in Dallas, United States, from 27 to 29 August 2027.^[5]