Several players were multiple medalists last week at the 36th International Racquetball Federation (IRF) World Junior Championships in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and two players won three gold medals.
In Girls U18, Mexican Yanna Salazar won gold in singles, doubles and mixed doubles, while in Boys U16 Bolivian Alfredo Santiago Borja Arevalo also won gold all three divisions. No one did so in U21, suggesting that competition increases as players get older, as it should.
Three other players won three medals. Mexican Andrea Perez Picon was the silver medalist in Girls U16 singles, and bronze medalist in both doubles, mixed doubles. Costa Rican Alvaro Guillen was silver medalist in both Boys U16 doubles and mixed doubles and a bronze medalist in singles. Finally, Guatemalan Isabella Wer was a bronze medalist in Girls U16 singles and doubles and bronze medalist in U18 mixed doubles.
Here’s a rundown of all the multiple medalists.
Multiple Medalists - U21
Camila Rivero (Bolivia), Gold singles, Silver mixed doubles
Rebecca Amaya Ardaya (Bolivia), Gold doubles, Silver singles
Jorge Gutierrez (Mexico), Gold doubles, Bronze singles
Sebastian Hernández (Mexico), Gold doubles, Bronze singles
Naomi Ros (USA), Gold mixed doubles, Bronze doubles
DJ Mendoza (USA), Gold mixed doubles, Bronze doubles
Angela Veronica Ortega Sabido (Mexico), Silver doubles, Bronze singles
Multiple Medalists - U18
Yanna Salazar (Mexico), Gold singles, Gold doubles, Gold mixed doubles
Mariafernanda Trujillo (Mexico), Gold doubles, Bronze singles
Marco Mamani Aguilar (Bolivia), Gold singles, Silver mixed doubles
Eder Renteria (Mexico), Gold doubles, Silver singles
Diego Romano (Mexico), Gold doubles, Bronze singles
Natalia Mendez Veizaga (Bolivia), Silver doubles, Silver mixed doubles
Leyton Gouldie (Canada), Bronze doubles, Bronze mixed doubles
Chloe Jauvin (Canada), Bronze doubles, Bronze mixed doubles
Multiple Medalists - U16
Alfredo Santiago Borja Arevalo (Bolivia) - Gold singles, Gold doubles, Gold mixed doubles
Luciana Illanes Quenta (Bolivia) - Gold singles, Silver doubles
Larissa Faeth (Costa Rica), Gold doubles, Silver mixed doubles
Suszel Andrea Pairo Galileo (Bolivia), Gold mixed doubles, Silver doubles
Sebastian Terrazas (Bolivia) - Gold doubles, Bronze singles (U18)
Andrea Perez Picon (Mexico), Silver singles, Bronze doubles, Bronze mixed doubles
Santiago Castillo (Mexico), Silver singles, Bronze doubles
Alvaro Guillen (Costa Rica), Silver doubles, Silver mixed doubles, Bronze singles
Isabella Wer (Guatemala), Bronze singles, Bronze doubles, Bronze mixed doubles (U18)
Axel Sanchez (Mexico), Bronze doubles, Bronze mixed doubles
Here are the overall medal totals by country.
Bolivia - 8 Gold, 7 Silver, 6 Bronze
Mexico - 5 Gold, 4 Silver, 8 Bronze
USA - 1 Gold, 5 Bronze
Costa Rica - 1 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze
Guatemala - 1 Silver, 4 Bronze
Ecuador - 1 Silver, 1 Bronze
Canada - 3 Bronze
Chile - 2 Bronze
While Bolivia went home with more medals than Mexico (21 to 17), Mexico had more multiple medalists than Bolivia: 10 to 8, which suggests that Mexico’s success was concentrated in fewer players than Bolivia’s.
Four other countries had multiple medalists. Canada, Costa Rica and the USA had two each, while Guatemala had one.
Future international competitions
2026 is a IRF World Championship year, and Canada was to be the host. However, issues with the proposed venue have put that into jeopardy. Thus, there isn’t a confirmed host country presently. Nor is there any dates listed for the Worlds on the IRF website.
There also isn’t a venue listed for either the 2026 Pan American Championships or the 2026 IRF World Junior Championships on the IRF website. But there are dates for the Pan Am Championships: March 27 to April 4, as that competition is held during the week before Easter.
The 2026 Central American and Caribbean Games - a quadrennial multi-sport games that includes racquetball - will be July 24 to August 8 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. World Juniors was probably a trial event for those games, although many events have been held in Santo Domingo since they built the facility used for these events for the 2003 Pan American Games.
Those dates will limit when Worlds can be scheduled, because they wouldn’t want to conflict with those games.
Thus, there’s some uncertainty about upcoming IRF events, which isn’t ideal, but this has happened before, and things have worked out, so we trust that they will again. However, it would be better to have things decided sooner than later.
XXXVI IRF World Junior Championships
December 6-13 - Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Girls U21 Singles - Medalists
Gold: Camila Rivero (Bolivia)
Silver: Rebecca Amaya Ardaya (Bolivia)
Bronze: Andrea Gabriela Reyes Perez (Guatemala) and Angela Veronica Ortega Sabido (Mexico)
Girls U21 Doubles - Medalists
Gold: Valeria Miranda Martinez & Rebecca Amaya Ardaya (Bolivia)
Silver: Angela Veronica Ortega Sabido & Ivanna Balderrama (Mexico)
Bronze: Sinai Diseth Risso Cortes & Paula Mansilla (Chile) and Ella Boaz & Naomi Ros (USA)
Boys U21 Singles - Medalists
Gold: Jonathan Fernando Flores Vega (Bolivia)
Silver: Nicolas Ramiro Iglesias Rivera (Bolivia)
Bronze: Jorge Gutierrez (Mexico) and Sebastian Hernández (Mexico)
Boys U21 Doubles - Medalists
Gold: Jorge Gutierrez & Sebastian Hernández (Mexico)
Silver: Hector Sierra Mansilla & Jose Caceres (Guatemala)
Bronze: Luis Aguilar & Ezequiel Subieta (Bolivia) and DJ Mendoza & Cole Sendrey (USA)
Mixed Doubles U21 - Medalists
Gold: DJ Mendoza & Naomi Ros (USA)
Silver: Jhoel Alexis Acha Portugal & Camila Rivero (Bolivia)
Bronze: Martin Carchi & Maria Angela Villacreses (Ecuador) and Jaime Mansilla & Paula Mansilla (Chile)
Girls U18 Singles - Medalists
Gold: Yanna Salazar (Mexico)
Silver: Nicol Abril Mansilla Tambo (Bolivia)
Bronze: Mariel Montecinos (Bolivia) and Mariafernanda Trujillo (Mexico)
Girls U18 Doubles - Medalists
Gold: Yanna Salazar & Mariafernanda Trujillo (Mexico)
Silver: Natalia Mendez Veizaga & Adriana Noelia Blacutt Conde (Bolivia)
Bronze: Lahni Buller & Chloe Jauvin (Canada) and Rebecca Christopher & Montserrat Torres (USA)
Boys U18 Singles - Medalists
Gold: Marco Mamani Aguilar (Bolivia)
Silver: Eder Renteria (Mexico)
Bronze: Diego Romano (Mexico) and Sebastian Terrazas (Bolivia)
Boys U18 Doubles - Medalists
Gold: Eder Renteria & Diego Romano (Mexico)
Silver: Martin Carchi & Juan David Sea Cueva (Ecuador)
Bronze: Leyton Gouldie & Raphaël Guillemette (Canada) and Josue Farfan Enriquez & Marco Mamani Aguilar (Bolivia)
Mixed Doubles U18 - Medalists
Gold: Nicolas Galindo & Yanna Salazar (Mexico)
Silver: Marco Mamani Aguilar & Natalia Mendez Veizaga (Bolivia)
Bronze: Christian Aldana & Isabella Wer (Guatemala) and Leyton Gouldie & Chloe Jauvin (Canada)
Girls U16 Singles - Medalists
Gold: Luciana Illanes Quenta (Bolivia)
Silver: Andrea Perez Picon (Mexico)
Bronze: Isabella Wer (Guatemala) and Nicol Abril Mansilla Tambo (Bolivia)
Girls U16 Doubles - Medalists
Gold: Giuliana Faeth & Larissa Faeth (Costa Rica)
Silver: Luciana Illanes Quenta & Suszel Andrea Pairo Galileo (Bolivia)
Bronze: Paula Aldana & Isabella Wer (Guatemala) and Lily Farias & Andrea Perez Picon (Mexico)
Boys U16 Singles - Medalists
Gold: Alfredo Santiago Borja Arevalo (Bolivia)
Silver: Santiago Castillo (Mexico)
Bronze: Alvaro Guillen (Costa Rica) and Sebastian Ruiz Michel (Bolivia)
Boys U16 Doubles - Medalists
Gold: Sebastian Terrazas & Alfredo Santiago Borja Arevalo (Bolivia)
Silver: Alvaro Guillen & Marcelo García Sanchez (Costa Rica)
Bronze: Santiago Castillo & Axel Sanchez (Mexico) and Evan Whitley & Grant Williams (USA)
Mixed Doubles U16 - Medalists
Gold: Alfredo Santiago Borja Arevalo & Suszel Andrea Pairo Galileo (Bolivia)
Silver: Larissa Faeth & Alvaro Guillen (Costa Rica)
Bronze: Vaishant Mangalampalli & Aanshi Thakur (USA) and Andrea Perez Picon & Axel Sanchez (Mexico)
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