What are the Pan American Weightlifting Championships?
The Pan American Weightlifting Championships are the senior continental championships of weightlifting in the Americas, for men and women. Lifters compete in bodyweight categories in the snatch and the clean and jerk, and are ranked on each lift and on the total; the IWF’s results for the 2026 edition give snatch, clean and jerk and total rankings in each category.[2] Medals are awarded for each lift and for the total, and national teams are also classified: the invitation for the 2022 edition provided trophies for the “tres (3) mejores equipos” in the men’s and women’s competitions, and the conditions for 2024 stated that “The five (05) best teams in the men’s and women’s branches will be awarded.”[5][4]
Who organizes the Pan American Weightlifting Championships?
The championships are the competition of the Pan American Weightlifting Federation, which calls itself the Federación Panamericana de Levantamiento de Pesas (FPLP). The IWF Constitution, approved in Manama on 4 December 2024, gives each continental federation the obligation to “organise and supervise continental championships” and names among their purposes “to promote and conduct Continental Championships” and “to authenticate and register all Continental records.”[7] The IWF lists the Pan American Weightlifting Federation as its continental federation for the Americas.[8]
Each edition is staged by the national federation of the host country. The 2024 edition was organised by the Venezuelan Weightlifting Federation with the endorsement of the Pan American federation, and the 2022 edition by the Colombian Weightlifting Federation with the approval of “la Federación Internacional de Levantamiento de Pesas IWF y la Federación Panamericana de este deporte”.[4][5] Competition runs under the IWF’s technical rules, and results are published in the IWF’s results database.[1]
When and where is it held?
The championships were held in every year from 2022 to 2026, in a different country each time. The IWF’s results database lists the 2026 edition in Panama City, Panama, from 5 May 2026, which is the most recent completed edition on 1 October 2026, and the 2025 edition in Cali, Colombia, from 12 July 2025.[1] The 2024 edition, the “Pan American Championship Senior Category, ‘Simón Bolívar’ Cup”, was staged at the José “Papa” Carrillo Gymnasium of the Parque Miranda sports complex in Sucre Municipality, Miranda State, in the Caracas area, with the conditions giving the period 23 to 29 February 2024.[4] The 2023 edition was reported in San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina, from 25 March to 2 April 2023, by a single media source.[6] No 2027 senior edition was listed in the IWF’s results database on 1 October 2026.
| Season | Pool / Format | Host cities |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 8 men's + 8 women's categories | Panama City, Panama, from 5 May 2026 |
| 2025 | 8 men's + 8 women's categories | Cali, Colombia, from 12 July 2025 |
| 2024 | Senior; Paris 2024 qualifying event | Caracas (Parque Miranda, Sucre Municipality, Miranda State), Venezuela, 23–29 February 2024 |
| 2023 | Senior; Paris 2024 qualifying event | San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina, 25 March–2 April 2023 |
| 2022 | 10 men's + 10 women's categories | Bogotá, Colombia, Palacio de los Deportes, 22–30 July 2022 |
Senior editions 2022–2026, newest first: host and dates from the IWF’s results database and the host federations’ invitations; 2023 from a single media report. The format column gives the bodyweight categories or the qualification role the organisers stated.[3]
Since when do the Pan American Weightlifting Championships exist?
The year of the first Pan American Weightlifting Championships could not be confirmed from a primary source: the history section of the federation’s own site could not be retrieved on 1 October 2026, and the IWF’s current results database offers seasons from 2025 onward.[1]
The categories have changed with the IWF’s. The invitation for the 2022 edition in Bogotá set ten bodyweight categories for men, from 55 kg to over 109 kg, and ten for women, from 45 kg to over 87 kg.[5] The IWF’s results for the 2025 Cali edition and the 2026 Panama City edition show eight categories for each sex: men’s 60, 65, 71, 79, 88, 94, 110 and +110 kg, and women’s 48, 53, 58, 63, 69, 77, 86 and +86 kg.[3][2]
How do athletes qualify?
There is no qualifying round: national federations enter their lifters. The conditions for the 2024 edition set the rules in full. “Only IWF Member Federations that are not in arrears with the IWF and FPLP are eligible to participate”; “Athletes must be 15 years old or older (birth year 2009 or earlier)”; and while preliminary entries could name “up to 20 (twenty) athletes per gender”, final confirmations were limited to “up to 12 (twelve) athletes per gender (10 starters + 02 reserves)”.[4]
The entry rules are reissued for each edition in the host federation’s invitation; the 2022 invitation set the categories and team classification for that year in the same way.[5]
Why does it matter?
The measurable value is qualification and records. The 2024 Caracas edition was announced as “a qualifying event for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games”.[4] A report on the 2023 Bariloche edition described the championships as “one of the Qualifying events” for Paris 2024.[6] The 2022 Bogotá invitation tied the event to qualification for the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago.[5] The IWF’s qualification system for Los Angeles 2028 could not be retrieved, so no Olympic qualification role is stated for the 2025 and 2026 editions or for later ones.
Continental records are set at these championships and registered by the continental federation, whose purposes under the IWF Constitution include “to authenticate and register all Continental records.”[7] Prize money was not published in the documents retrieved.
Who competes?
The championships are open to the national federations of the IWF’s PanAmerica region that are in good standing with the IWF and the Pan American federation, with senior men’s and women’s competitions in every category.[4][8] The number of nations and lifters at the 2026 Panama City edition was not given on the IWF results page retrieved; the results list snatch, clean and jerk and total for all sixteen categories, eight for men and eight for women.[2]
Junior and youth lifters compete in separate continental events: the IWF lists Pan-American Youth Championships in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, in November 2025, apart from the senior championships.[1] Under the 2024 conditions, lifters from 15 years of age could enter the senior event, within the limit of twelve athletes per sex for each nation.[4]
References
- IWF — Results by events (Pan-American Championships, Cali 2025 and Panama City 2026; Pan-American Youth Championships 2025). Accessed 2026-10-01.
- IWF — Results, Pan-American Championships, Panama City 2026. Accessed 2026-10-01.
- IWF — Results, Pan-American Championships, Cali 2025. Accessed 2026-10-01.
- Venezuelan Weightlifting Federation — Conditions, Pan American Championship Senior Category, Caracas 2024 (published by the IWF). Accessed 2026-10-01.
- Federación Colombiana de Levantamiento de Pesas — Invitation, Campeonato Panamericano de Mayores 2022, Bogotá (published by the IWF). Accessed 2026-10-01.
- Torokhtiy — Pan-American Weightlifting Championships 2023 results (media report). Accessed 2026-10-01.
- IWF — Constitution, approved by the IWF Congress in Manama, Bahrain, 4 December 2024 (Article 5). Accessed 2026-10-01.
- IWF — Continental Federations directory (Pan American Weightlifting Federation entry). Accessed 2026-10-01.