Imagine a multi-sport event like the Olympics, but just not that grand, and for athletes under the age of 20. That is what the American U20 Championships are. And the sports can vary in this competition, like the wrestlers are supposed to break a sweat in Lima, Peru, on July 10–12. The Pan Am U20 Chess Championship is set to unfold in Paraguay’s capital, welcoming young masters and titled players from across the continent. But there has been a problem with track and field; the organizers have yet to decide on a venue. This has forced a hard move from the USATF. What did they do?

On June 11, 2025, CitiusMag Founder and prominent journalist Chris Chavez tweeted, “USATF announces they will not be sending a team to the 2025 Pan Am U20 Championships in Colombia due to safety concerns.” Athletics Canada was the first to pull out of their U20 Pan-Am Championship team. Days later, USATF issued a press release, making sure America joins their neighbors on the list.

In their press release, USA Track and Field wrote, “Member federations were notified last week that the Pan Am U20 Championships, initially scheduled for July 11-13, 2025, without a location, will be held in Villavicencio, Colombia.” The national governing body for track and field, long-distance running, and race walking in the United States talked of the team being full of minors and claimed to have worked to determine the logistics involved and the viability of sending a team to the aforementioned location with such short notice.

Further zeroing down on the reason, they said, in the press release, “Currently, with less than 30 days until travel, USATF does not have sufficient details from the organizers regarding transportation logistics, accommodations, or security support. Information on logistics is critical, as the U.S. State Department has listed Colombia as ‘Level 3 – Reconsider Travel,’ and the U.S. State Department prohibits U.S. government employees from using taxis or public transportation in Colombia due to safety concerns.” To make up to the U20 athletes who will miss this opportunity, they also said, “USATF will look to host a U20 Pathway to Elite Seminar for event winners from the 2025 USATF U20 Championships.”

The U.S. State Department uses a four-level travel advisory system to assess safety risks abroad: Level 1 (Exercise Normal Precautions), Level 2 (Exercise Increased Caution), Level 3 (Reconsider Travel), and Level 4 (Do Not Travel). A Level 3 advisory means the government recommends avoiding non-essential travel due to significant security risks such as crime (including armed robbery, kidnapping, and extortion), civil unrest, t——–, and poor infrastructure or limited access to emergency services. And it is not the first time USATF has had to pull out of a competition for this reason.

Not the first time for USATF

This is just another time in the past four years that USATF has pulled out of any major U-20 championships. The first one came in 2021 when they had to withdraw from the World Under-20 Athletics Championships in Kenya and the Pan Am U20 Championships in Chile. “Due to a number of factors, including timing, logistics, and more importantly the health and well-being of our athletes and staff, the USATF will not send athletes for four upcoming major competitions this year,” said USATF. This was the time when COVID-19 was peaking and USATF was not alone to go for the hard step.

Athletics New Zealand canceled its team’s trip to the Nairobi World U20 Championships. The key reasons cited were heightened COVID risks in Nairobi. Another time when USATF pulled out of a major U-20 championship was in 2024, when they initially decided not to send a team to the August 26–31 U-20 Championships in Lima, Peru.

In another memo, they said, “After careful consideration concerning both the domestic & international athletics calendar, consultation amongst the internal team, advice of security consultants and relevant government authorities, it has been decided that USA Track & Field will not be sending a Team to the 2024 World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Peru. ”

However, following consultation with World Athletics and assurances from the Lima local organizing committee regarding safety protocols, USATF reversed its decision in early May 2024 and confirmed it would send a team to the event. In a statement they said, “Following careful assessment and consultation with World Athletics and the 2024 World Athletics U20 Championships Local Organizing Committee (LOC), USA Track and Field has received reassurance of sufficient safety measures that will be in place at the event and has made the decision to field a team to represent Team USA at the Championships taking place August 26-31, 2024, in Lima, Peru.”

With that, not going to Colombia is another chapter in the book.