OTTAWA— Wrestling Canada Lutte (WCL) is proud to announce the 20 athletes, along with coaches, support staff and officials, that will represent Canada at the 2026 Senior Pan-American (Pan-Am) Championships, May 7-10 in Coralville, Iowa, United States. The 2026 team features many past national champions, along with numerous international medalists.

“Wrestling Canada Lutte looks forward to seeing our top athletes compete at the Senior Pan-American Championships in Iowa,” said Chris Woodcroft, WCL High Performance Director. “The Pan-American Championships have become a valuable tournament for our wrestlers to measure their Olympic potential against others from the region, as it is one of the routes to qualifying for LA 2028. The Pan-American countries continue to impress on the world stage taking an ever-larger share of the ‘Olympic medal pie’.  Canada is sending a young team with numerous athletes making their international senior debut but also some senior members who bring considerable international experience. We look forward to seeing them all test themselves against the best in the Pan-Ams!”

A pair of World Championships bronze medalists will take to the mats for Canada in the U.S. including Canada’s most recent world medalist Montreal’s Laurence Beauregard. Beauregard, Montreal WC, has been dominant at the Pan-Ams in the past winning four gold medals. In 2025, she added her first bronze medal at the World Championships in Croatia. She will look to add another Pan-Am medal this year when she competes at 59kg.

Joining her will be Surrey, British Columbia’s Karla Godinez Gonzalez. Godinez Gonzalez, from Burnaby Mountain WC, earned her World Championships bronze in 2022 and has continued to add medals to her collection since, including a gold at last year’s Pan-Am Championships at 55kg. She will look to win back-to-back medals in 2026, this time at 57kg.

As for the men, former Junior World Champion, Anmore, British Columbia’s Peiman Biabani, will compete at 65kg. Biabani, Burnaby Mountain WC, took bronze at last year’s event and went on to have a strong World Championships, earning a fifth-place finish. He also won a silver medal at the 2024 Pan-Ams, so he will be looking to win the gold that has so far eluded him at this event.

Also on the men’s side will be Abbotsford’s Nishan Randhawa. Randhawa, Burnaby Mountain WC, picked up a bronze medal at the 2025 Pan-Ams, but is also a past Pan-Am Games bronze medalist, and Commonwealth Games champion. He will aim to find the podium at 97kg in Iowa.

2026 Senior Pan-Am Team

Accompanying the athletes will be the coaching and support staff. The group includes WCL event coaches Dave McKay, Carol Huynh, Owen Dawkins and Dave Spinney; personal coaches Jordan Ferguson, Chokri Khelifi and David Zilberman; physiotherapist Max Hanna; and team leader Chris Woodcroft. Curtis Leung, Ed Zinger, Demetra Koutsopodiotis-Gauthier and Gary Bird will represent Canada as officials.

For complete tournament information, including brackets, schedules and results, visit the tournament site. Matches can be watched on UWW+.