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 2025 Senior Pan-American (Pan-Am) Championships, May 8-11 in Monterrey, Mexico. The 2025 team features many past national champions, along with numerous international medalists.

“WCL is excited to witness both our national women’s and men’s team compete in Mexico at the Senior Pan-Am Championships.  The Pan-Am region has been consistently improving on the international stage, capturing 33% of the women’s and 17% of the men’s Olympic medals in Paris,” said Chris Woodcroft, WCL High Performance Director.  “These international opportunities are a fantastic measuring stick as we head towards the Canadian Wrestling Championships (Sr., Jr., Cadet), May 29-31, in Edmonton. In addition, it is a great opportunity for athletes to gain experience as we head to the summer’s international schedule, with many of our athletes hoping to represent Canada and compete at the World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia in September.”

Competing in Mexico will be Olympian and Surrey, British Columbia’s Ana Godinez Gonzalez. Godinez Gonzalez, represented Canada at the Paris Games last summer where she barely missed the podium, finishing fifth. Godinez Gonzalez, who trains at Burnaby Mountain WC, is a former U23 World Champion and two-time gold medalist at the Senior Pan-Ams. She will be looking to add more hardware to her collection at the event. She will compete in the 62kg weight class.

The women’s side will also feature two members of the U23 team making their senior international debuts. Stoney Creek, Ontario’s Serena Di Benedetto (53kg) and Edmonton’s Vianne Rouleau (76kg) both won silver medals at the 2024 U23 World Championships. They both represented Canada in April at the U23 Pan-Ams with Di Benedetto (Hamilton WC) winning silver and Rouleau (Edmonton WC) bronze. They will both be looking to take that next step in Mexico.

As for the men, former Junior World Champion, Anmore, British Columbia’s Peiman Biabani, will compete at 65kg. Biabani, who completed his first full year competing for Canada in 2024 won silver at the Pan-Ams and represented Canada at the World Championships. The Burnaby Mountain WC member will look to build on that momentum in 2025.

2025 Senior Pan-Am Team

Accompanying the team are the coaching staff and team officials. The group includes event coaches Dave McKay and Saeed Azarbayjani; personal coach Dave Spinney; team leader Chris Woodcroft; and physiotherapist Max Hanna. Gary Bird, Demetra Koutsopodiotis, Curtis Leung, Ed Zinger, Michelle Flinders (Beach Wrestling) and Hamid Moshkelgosha (Beach Wrestling) will represent Canada as officials.

For live updates, schedules, and results, visit the official tournament page: UWW Event Hub. The event will be streamed on UWW+.