U.S. and California Athletes Shine at Cadet & Junior Pan American Championships

The 2026 Cadet and Junior Pan American Championships in Guayaquil, Ecuador showcased the rising level of talent across the Americas, and the United States delivered one of its strongest performances in recent years.

At the Cadet Pan American Championships, Team USA captured 12 total medals, including two golds, improving on last year’s impressive 10-medal performance. The result highlights the continued growth of the American development pipeline and the depth of young talent emerging from clubs across the country.

The Junior squad also enjoyed a strong showing, bringing home nine medals overall. The team was led by Daniel Liubimovski, who captured gold, anchoring a successful tournament for the American team.

Several athletes from the California judo community were among those representing the United States and showed promising performances against some of the best young competitors in the Pan American region.

California athletes were led by Cadet World Champion Jonathan Yang of LA Judo, who now trains full-time at the U.S. National Training Center in North Carolina. Yang finished the event with a silver medal, closing out the day with a hard-fought final against Eduardo Sagastegui from Mexico in a match ultimately decided by penalties.

Yang looked dominant throughout the competition, earning impressive victories over Maximo Alamo of Argentina and Vinicius Oliveira of Brazil in the semifinal round before advancing to the gold medal match.

In the 48kg division, Iya Sadanchikova of San Jose State University showed tremendous toughness in capturing a bronze medal. Entering the tournament while dealing with several injuries, Sadanchikova faced adversity early when she was caught in an armlock by Sarah Mendes of Brazil in the opening round.

Despite concerns from coaches about her ability to continue, Sadanchikova insisted on fighting on. She proved her resilience by battling back through the repechage rounds with victories over Nayla Burzio of Argentina before securing the bronze medal with a win against local favorite Carmen Ferrin of Ecuador.

Other California athletes also turned in strong performances.

Madison Nguyen (Los Angeles Tenri) competed in the Junior division at just 16 years old, showing great composure while facing older and more experienced opponents. Nguyen finished with a 2–2 record and a fifth-place result, an impressive performance for one of the youngest athletes in the field.

Sascha Lievano(Griffin Judo) who competed at the Cadet event and Liam Kesler (CJ Judo) also battled through challenging brackets and finished with top-five placements. Lievano dropped an early match to eventual champion Nicolas Almeida of Brazil, but fought his way back through repechage rou

nds to stay in medal contention.

One of the more dramatic moments of the event came earlier in the day during Kesler’s opening match. Competing in his first major international event since moving up to the 66kg division, the first-year junior found himself trailing by wazari and two yuko scores. Refusing to give up, Kesler mounted a remarkable comeback, scoring a wazari with a pin before eventually finishing the match with ippon. Next up Kesler scored an ippon win over the Mexican Athlete which placed him the Semi Final. This match was a tough one with Kesler down by 3 yukos, he scores. a wazari with just 1 minute on the clock. He was able to hold his lead for most of that minute. With just 4 seconds left on the clock Kesler was thrown for ippon, ending his chance to fight for gold. He dropped into the bronze medal match where he lost to Adrian Lapaix Ramirez of Domincan Republic.

The performances in Guayaquil highlight what many in the judo community already know—California remains one of the most important development hubs for American judo. With athletes gaining international experience at younger ages and strong coaching networks supporting their growth, the pipeline continues to produce competitors capable of reaching the highest levels of the sport. If these results are any indication, many of the names seen on the mats in Ecuador may very well appear on the world stage for years to come.