Nine individual World Championship titles, returning champions and rising young athletes highlight a strong showing for USA Kickboxing
JESOLO, ITALY — September 28, 2026 — Team USA concluded an impressive week on the world stage at the 2026 WAKO Youth World Championships, held September 18–27 in Jesolo, Italy, with American athletes capturing nine individual World Championship titles and podium finishes across Point Fighting, Forms, Light Contact, Low Kick and K1.
Representing WAKO USA / USA Kickboxing, athletes from across the United States competed against the world’s top children, cadet and junior kickboxers in one of the largest and most competitive events on the WAKO international calendar.
From first-time World medalists to established champions adding to already remarkable international résumés, Team USA’s performance demonstrated both the current strength and future potential of American kickboxing.
Team USA captured nine individual gold medals across Point Fighting, Forms and Light Contact.
2026 WAKO WORLD CHAMPIONS
Hazel Gudiel — Point Fighting, Children Girls -24kg
Raymundo Elias Camarena Rodriguez — Point Fighting, Older Cadets Boys -37kg
Donovan Horvat — Point Fighting, Older Cadets Boys -57kg
Ibrahim Abdul-Qadir — Point Fighting, Juniors Males -69kg
Miguel Ortega — Point Fighting, Juniors Males -94kg
Hazel Gudiel — Creative Forms with Weapons
Layla Pak — Creative Forms with Weapons
Ava Amparo — Musical Forms
Raymundo Elias Camarena Rodriguez — Light Contact, Older Cadets Boys -37kg
Among the standout performances of the championships was Raymundo Elias Camarena Rodriguez, who captured two World Championship titles in Jesolo, winning both Point Fighting and Light Contact.
The victories brought Camarena Rodriguez’s career total to an extraordinary seven WAKO Youth World Championship titles.
He previously captured three World titles at the 2022 Youth World Championships — Point Fighting, Creative Forms and Musical Forms — before adding two more World titles in Creative Forms and Musical Forms at the 2024 championships. He also earned bronze in Point Fighting in 2024.
With his two victories in Jesolo, Camarena Rodriguez the thirteen-year-old now holds eight individual World Championship medals — seven gold and one bronze — across three consecutive WAKO Youth World Championships.
He was not the only American athlete to leave Jesolo with multiple gold medals.
Hazel Gudiel became a two-time 2026 World Champion, capturing gold in both Point Fighting and Creative Forms with Weapons. She also earned silver in Creative Forms, finishing the championships with three individual medals.
Ava Amparo captured the World Championship title in Musical Forms and added silver in Musical Forms with Weapons, while Layla Pak earned gold in Creative Forms with Weapons and silver in Point Fighting.
Several members of the 2026 delegation arrived in Jesolo already knowing what it meant to stand on a WAKO World Championship podium.
Reuben Spencer continued an impressive streak of international success by earning bronze in Musical Forms in Jesolo, marking his third consecutive Youth World Championships with an individual medal.
Spencer earned three medals at the 2022 World Championships — silver in Creative Forms, silver in Musical Forms and bronze in Point Fighting — before adding silver in Point Fighting and bronze in Musical Forms with Weapons at the 2024 championships.
His 2026 bronze brings his career total to six individual WAKO Youth World Championship medals across three consecutive World Championships.
Luis Rivera Falcon returned to the World Championship podium after becoming a 2024 WAKO World Champion in Point Fighting. Competing in the Junior division in Jesolo, Rivera Falcon earned bronze in Point Fighting and later helped the USA Junior Boys Point Fighting Team earn another bronze medal in team competition.
Matias David Camarena Rodriguez also became a repeat World Championship medalist. After earning bronze in Point Fighting at the 2024 championships, he returned to the podium in Jesolo in Point Fighting as well as Forms.
Annikka Kimball, a bronze medalist in Low Kick at the 2024 World Championships, earned another World Championship bronze in Jesolo — this time in K1 — giving her World Championship medals in two different ring disciplines.
The results illustrate the continued development of athletes progressing through WAKO’s youth divisions while also welcoming a new group of American World Champions and medalists onto the international stage.
In addition to its nine World Championship titles, Team USA earned silver and bronze medals throughout the week.
SILVER MEDALISTS
Layla Pak — Point Fighting
Hazel Gudiel — Creative Forms
Ava Amparo — Musical Forms with Weapons
Morgan Taylor — Low Kick, Younger Juniors Girls -48kg
BRONZE MEDALISTS
Matias David Camarena Rodriguez — Point Fighting
Mollie Quarles — Point Fighting
Vivian Gomez — Point Fighting
Luis Rivera Falcon — Point Fighting
Matias David Camarena Rodriguez — Creative Forms
Matias David Camarena Rodriguez — Musical Forms
Ruben Villanueva Santos — Creative Forms with Weapons
Ruben Villanueva Santos — Musical Forms with Weapons
Reuben Spencer — Musical Forms
Luis Spencer — Musical Forms
Edwin Rivera Falcon — Light Contact
Aidan Torres — Low Kick
Angelina Lee — Low Kick
Annikka Kimball — K1
The final day in Jesolo featured one of the most anticipated events of the World Championships: Point Fighting team competition.
Team USA fielded 11 teams, ranging from the Children through Junior age divisions and including both male and female teams.
The team event brings a different energy to international competition. Athletes who spend the week competing individually suddenly compete side-by-side for their country, with teammates, coaches and families surrounding the tatami.
Two U.S. teams finished on the World Championship podium.
The USA Children Girls Point Fighting Team, featuring Olivia Almanza, Hazel Gudiel and Mollie Quarles, earned bronze.
The USA Junior Boys Point Fighting Team, featuring Ibrahim Abdul-Qadir, Jahmir Caton, Xander Eddy and Luis Rivera Falcon, also captured bronze.
For Xander Eddy, the team medal added another World Championship achievement to his résumé after earning individual silver in Point Fighting at the 2024 WAKO Youth World Championships.
The team competition capped a week in which athletes from different gyms, disciplines and regions of the United States came together under one flag.
The Youth World Championships represent one of the highest levels of international competition available to developing kickboxers within the WAKO pathway.
For some members of Team USA, Jesolo represented their first opportunity to compete at a World Championship. For others, it was another step in an international career that began years earlier.
That combination — experienced World Champions alongside athletes making their international breakthrough — was one of the defining features of the 2026 U.S. delegation.
In Point Fighting, the United States finished with five gold, one silver and six bronze medals, placing Team USA fifth in the discipline’s official nation standings.
The U.S. Forms delegation also finished fifth in its discipline standings after earning three gold, two silver and six bronze medals.
In Light Contact, Team USA earned one gold and one bronze, while the U.S. ring delegation added one silver and two bronze medals in Low Kick, along with a bronze medal in K1.
The performance continued a strong year for USA Kickboxing internationally.
Earlier this year, the U.S. senior delegation delivered one of its strongest performances at the 2026 WAKO Pan American Championships, earning 18 gold, six silver and eight bronze medals and finishing third overall in the medal standings.
The results in Jesolo showed that the next generation is developing alongside them.
“Competing at a World Championship gives these athletes an experience that can’t be replicated anywhere else,” said El-Java Abdul-Qadir, Head Coach of Team USA. “They are facing the best athletes from countries around the world, adapting to different styles and learning how to perform under international pressure. We saw athletes win World titles, we saw returning medalists continue to grow, and we saw athletes gain experience that will change the way they compete moving forward.”
Behind every athlete who stepped onto a tatami or into a ring in Jesolo was a network of coaches, families, teammates, officials and supporters who helped make the journey possible.
WAKO USA extends its appreciation to the coaches who prepared and supported Team USA throughout the championships, the officials representing the United States internationally, the families who traveled thousands of miles to support their athletes, and the gyms across the country responsible for developing the competitors who earned the opportunity to wear the USA uniform.
For WAKO USA, the 2026 Youth World Championships were about more than the final medal count.
They were about giving young American athletes the opportunity to compete against the world’s best, building experience for the future and continuing to develop a unified national team capable of competing at the highest levels of international kickboxing.
From first-time medalists to seven-time World Champion Raymundo Elias Camarena Rodriguez, Jesolo offered a glimpse at both how far USA Kickboxing has come — and where the next generation can take it.
One Team. One USA. One Mission.
WAKO USA / USA Kickboxing is the United States member federation of the World Association of Kickboxing Organizations (WAKO), the international governing body for kickboxing recognized by the International Olympic Committee.
WAKO USA develops athletes, coaches and officials throughout the United States and provides the national pathway for American competitors to represent Team USA at WAKO continental championships, World Championships and other major international competitions.
For more information, visit wakousa.org.
Ashley Zbilski
WAKO USA / USA Kickboxing
ashley@wakousa.org
Nine individual World Championship titles, returning champions and rising young athletes highlight a strong showing for USA Kickboxing JESOLO, ITALY — September 28, 2026 —
