{"id":32228,"date":"2025-12-04T13:20:50","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T19:20:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/?post_type=news-sport&p=32228"},"modified":"2025-12-04T13:24:37","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T19:24:37","slug":"best-junior-athlete-2025-the-close-race-to-be-the-best-of-the-best","status":"publish","type":"news-sport","link":"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/en\/news-sport\/best-junior-athlete-2025-the-close-race-to-be-the-best-of-the-best\/","title":{"rendered":"BEST JUNIOR ATHLETE 2025: THE CLOSE RACE TO BE THE BEST OF THE BEST"},"content":{"rendered":"

The choice for the best of the best at the 2025 Panam Sports Junior Awards is highly contested. Seven nominees for a single award. All of them Pan American champions with new records at the Pan American Junior Games.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here we show you the main achievements of each of these outstanding athletes who shone at ASU2025.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Panama, the United States, and Ecuador will compete for the title of Best Junior Athlete 2025 in what is expected to be one of the most closely contested votes of all the Panam Sports Awards.<\/p>\n

This is because all the nominees performed exceptionally well, playing a key role in their delegations’ success in the overall medal count.<\/p>\n

All of them, absolutely all of them, reached the top of the podium and even set new Games records, many of them more than once.<\/p>\n

This is the only category where there are two athletes with more than eight medals to their credit and one athlete who broke the Junior World Record.<\/p>\n

Below, we detail the achievements that led these eight elite junior athletes to triumph at ASU 2025 and be considered for these Panam Sports Awards.<\/p>\n

BEST JUNIOR FEMALE ATHLETE AWARD<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Agostina Hein (Swimming, Argentina)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thanks to her results, medals, and achievements, Agustina Hein became the best athlete in Argentina and one of the best at ASU 2025. In swimming, she won a total of eight medals: three gold (in the 200-meter and 400-meter individual medley and the 400-meter freestyle), four silver, and one bronze. She also broke three Junior Pan American Games records in the 400m freestyle (4:06.96), the 400m individual medley (4:38.41), and the 200m individual medley (2:12.12).<\/p>\n

Stephanie Balduccini (Swimming \u2013 Brazil)<\/strong><\/p>\n

She was one of the best athletes at the 2021 Cali Games, and this time, at ASU2025, she shone again. The Brazilian swimmer was by far the most decorated athlete of these Games. In total, she won eight gold medals in the 50m, 100m, and 200m freestyle and in the 4×100 freestyle, medley, mixed freestyle, mixed medley, and 4×200 freestyle relays. In addition, she broke six Pan American Junior Games records, two individual and four team records.<\/p>\n

Charlotte Simoneau (Weightlifting-Canada)<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Canadian weightlifter won the gold medal in the 69kg category, lifting 110kg in the snatch, 130kg in the clean and jerk, and a total of 240kg. In the snatch, Charlotte broke the junior world record with 110kg. It should be noted that this was the only world record broken at ASU 2025.<\/p>\n

Stefany Cuadrado (Cycling-Colombia)<\/b><\/p>\n

The Team Panam Sports ambassador was the favorite to take gold in Paraguay. The best Colombian cyclist of the moment did not disappoint and took the gold medal in the Keirin, Sprint, and Women’s Team Sprint. Stefany also broke the Pan American Games record in the sprint event and twice in the team sprint event. After ASU2025, Stefany won the bronze medal at the UCI Adult Track Cycling World Championships in Santiago, Chile.<\/p>\n

Emily Santos (Swimming-Panama)<\/b><\/p>\n

This outstanding Olympic swimmer from Panama gave an outstanding performance, winning the gold medal in the 100m breaststroke, the only one for her country at ASU2025. In addition, in the same event, she broke the Junior Pan American Games record with a time of 1:08.44. In the 200m breaststroke, she won the silver medal and in the heats, she broke the event record with a time of 2:30.08.<\/p>\n

Charleigh Bullock (Gymnastics-USA)<\/b><\/p>\n

The American gymnast was the star of ASU2025 in Artistic Gymnastics. She won a total of five gold medals in: All Around, Balance Beam, Floor Exercise, Uneven Bars, and Team. With this, Charleigh became the Team USA athlete who won the most medals at the Junior Pan American Games.<\/p>\n

Jessica Palacios (Weightlifting-Ecuador)<\/strong><\/p>\n

The youngest of the three Dajomes-Palacios sisters who compete in weightlifting for Ecuador, Jessica shone at ASU2025, winning the gold medal with two new Junior Pan American Games records: 100kg in the snatch and 222kg in the total. A medal, a record, and qualification for one of the most promising figures in Ecuadorian sport.<\/p>\n

IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY DONE SO, WE INVITE YOU TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE ATHLETE AND TEAM AT THE FOLLOWING LINK:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

PANAM SPORTS AWARDS<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The choice for the best of the best at the 2025 Panam […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":32229,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news_sports":[209],"class_list":["post-32228","news-sport","type-news-sport","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news_sports-panam-sports-awards"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBEST JUNIOR ATHLETE 2025: THE CLOSE RACE TO BE THE BEST OF THE BEST - Panam Sports<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/en\/news-sport\/best-junior-athlete-2025-the-close-race-to-be-the-best-of-the-best\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BEST JUNIOR ATHLETE 2025: THE CLOSE RACE TO BE THE BEST OF THE BEST - Panam Sports\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The choice for the best of the best at the 2025 Panam […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/en\/news-sport\/best-junior-athlete-2025-the-close-race-to-be-the-best-of-the-best\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Panam Sports\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-04T19:24:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/3-4.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.panamsports.org\\\/en\\\/news-sport\\\/best-junior-athlete-2025-the-close-race-to-be-the-best-of-the-best\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.panamsports.org\\\/en\\\/news-sport\\\/best-junior-athlete-2025-the-close-race-to-be-the-best-of-the-best\\\/\",\"name\":\"BEST JUNIOR ATHLETE 2025: THE CLOSE RACE TO BE THE BEST OF THE BEST - 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