Mexico once again ruled the Junior Pan American Games, sweeping all three events — duet, mixed duet and team — at the second edition of the competition, held in Asunción, Paraguay. The country had already been dominant back in 2021 with three golds and one silver, and this time didn’t leave anything on the table.
Unfortunately, if you didn’t catch this year’s competition live, you’re mostly out of luck. No replays of duet or team are available (no, the barely-15-minutes of acrobatic team don’t count), and only one and a half of the mixed duets have surfaced so far. As a result, it’s hard to say much about the routines themselves or the performances. Apparently, if you blinked or did anything else during that time, you miss it forever.
Mexico continues to cement itself as the top junior power in the Americas, building on its five medals — three golds and two silvers— from the last World Junior Championships.
Two-time World Junior Champion Diego Villalobos capped his junior career in style, winning mixed duet gold with a combined score of 530.5151 with Nayeli Mondragon in their first international appearance together. Villalobos has had a busy season across junior and senior events, including a Worlds bronze in technical solo only a few weeks ago. The 20-year-old had also won silver at the first Junior Pan American Games with Ximena Ortiz Montano, now on the Canadian senior team, and only one year after taking up artistic swimming.
Teammates Camila Argumedo and Daniela Avila claimed gold in duet with a total score of 504.6625. Argumedo already boasts an impressive junior résumé with two mixed duet medals from the 2024 World Junior Championships.
The Mexicans maintained their stranglehold on the team events, successfully defending their title with a combined 722.2850 across the technical, free, and acrobatic routines. The squad closed out the meet with a standout acrobatic swim to its “Climate Change” routine, and was the only team to avoid basemarks on this final day of competition.
Behind them, the U.S. earned silver in team (672.5656) and bronze in duet with Anamaria Camero and Hannah Ryou (489.9387).
Canada didn’t field a team yet again, likely due to a scheduling conflict with the Canada Games, which featured artistic swimming and may have taken priority for the country’s junior athletes. Unlike 2021, when Canada wasn’t represented at all, this time the nation still made its presence felt in duet and mixed duet. In the former, Charlie Breault and Olena Verbinska captured silver (496.1705) despite limited time training together; Verbinska has been with the senior national team since 2022.
Chile’s steady rise continued, highlighted here by two historical medals, the first in artistic swimming at a Pan American Games in general.
The experienced pair of Nicolas Campos and Theodora Garrido earned silver in mixed duet with a combined score of 435.3779, while the team secured bronze with 634.0476.
The fourth-place finish of Barbara Coppelli and Macarena Vial in duet is also significant, as this means Chile has now become the number one South American nation in every event at the junior level, which bodes well for the future.
Brazil leaves Asuncion with one bronze, earned in the mixed duet by Bernardo Da Silva and Eduarda Mattos, with a combined score of 383.9433.
In other noteworthy performances, Peru’s Camila Fernandez and Luciana Quintanilla finished fifth in duet (430.0962), while Venezuela made a rare and welcome appearance with a full junior team on the international stage
ARTICLE BY CHRISTINA MARMET
Cover photo: Conade Official
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