LIMA, PERU – The 2025 U20 Pan-American (Pan-Am) Championships could not have begun much better for the Canadian squad when the women’s competition got underway on July 11 in Lima, Peru. Canada had an entrant in all 10 weight classes and came away with a medal in each (two gold, four silver, and four bronze).

Gold medals were won by Maple Ridge, British Columbia’s Agnia Krakovska at 57kg and Calgary’s Annika Fines at 62kg. Krakovska, from Coast RTC, was in a round robin and went a perfect 3-0 in the group portion of the competition. She advanced to the semifinal where she beat Thania Anibal Ribeiro of Brazil 7-4. That moved her on to the final where she scored a thrilling victory, 4-4 by criteria, over American Carissa Qureshi.

As for Fines, from Dinos Wrestling Club, she was in a traditional bracket. She won her quarterfinal 11-1 over Carina Giangeruso of Puerto Rico and then her semifinal by the same score over Leonela Gruezo of Ecuador. She matched up with American Lilly Luft in the final and came away with a 2-1 victory.

“I am really excited about the win, I think I wrestled a great finals match. I was very strategic so overall I am just very pleased with my performance today,” said Fines after the win.

Earning silver medals were: Saskatoon’s Abby Wolff at 55kg, Calgary’s Mackenzie Cayer at 65kg, Toronto’s Kiki Idowu at 72kg, and Abbotsford, British Columbia’s Rupinder Johal at 76kg.

Bronze medals went to: Saskatoon’s Elizabeth Chapman at 50kg, Mississauga’s Brooklyn Glasgow at 53kg, Port Moody, British Columbia’s Ella Finding at 59kg, and Lene-Marie McCrackin at 68kg.

Thanks to the medal haul, the women finished second overall in the team competition.

The 2025 U20 Pan-Am Championships wrap up tomorrow with the men’s freestyle competition where the Canadian men will be looking to replicate the strong performance.

For complete tournament information, including brackets, results, schedules and matches (on UWW+) visit the tournament site: https://uww.org/event/u20-pan-american-championships-0/schedule-matches-fixtures.