By Richard Immel
USA Wrestling

NOVI SAD, Serbia – Team USA has officially arrived at the 2025 U23 World Championships with a dynamite Wednesday morning session at SPENS that saw four athletes make the semifinals and one advance to a bronze medal match. 

Two-time Senior World medalist and defending U23 World champion Kylie Welker, 2024 U20 World champion Jasmine Robinson and five-time age-group World medalist Audrey Jimenez got the party started for the U.S. women in Novi Sad. All three picked up a pair of nice wins and qualified for the Wednesday evening semifinals. 

Welker set the tone with a 10-0 thrashing of five-time age-group World medalist Priya of India and followed with an 11-0 technical fall over Senior Pan American silver medalist Nyla Burgess of Canada at 76 kg. Her semifinal opponent is U20 Pan American champion Edna Jimenez Villalba of Mexico. 

Robinson was equally as dominant with a set of first period pins at 72 kg. She stuck 2023 U23 World bronze medalist Iryna Zablotska of Ukraine in 59 seconds and backed it up with a pin at 1:29 against U23 European bronze medalist Haticenur Sari of Türkiye. Up next for Robinson is 2023 U17 World champion Veronika Vilk of Croatia. 

Jimenez was the only U.S. woman to go to a decision. She looked sluggish to start at 50 kg, falling behind 6-0 to Switzerland’s Svenja Jungo, a two-time age-group World medalist. Jimenez reeled off 12-straight points to get the win, 12-6. She looked much improved in the next round against Senior Pan American bronze medalist Nohalis Loyo Jimenez of Venezuela, picking up a 10-0 technical fall. Two-time age group World medalist Aida Kerymova of Ukraine stands in the way of a fifth age-group World finals appearance for Jiminez. 

On the Greco-Roman side, Senior World Team members Max Black at 60 kg and Beka Melelashvili at 82 kg took the mats and are both still in medal contention. 

Black got better as the day went on. He received an opening round forfeit from Alhaji Turay of Sierra Leone, battled to a 2-1 comeback win over Olivier Skrzypczak of Poland and crushed Zhaojian Wang of China, 8-0. Black solidified his place in the semifinals against 2024 U20 Asian champion Koto Gomi of Japan. 

Melelashvili, a retuning U23 World silver medalist, posted a 1-1 record, dropping his quarterfinal match to two-time U20 European bronze medalist Ruslan Abdiiev of Ukraine, 2-1. Melelashvili opened with a wild 10-7 win against U23 Asian champion Samandar Bobonaz of Uzbekistan. An Abdiiev win in the semifinals pulls Melelashvili into the repechage where he will have a chance to wrestle back for bronze. 

2024 U20 World silver medalist Otto Black is in position to earn his second age-group World medal, and the second medal at the U23 Worlds for the U.S. Greco-Roman program. Black defeated U23 Asian champion Bagdat Sabaz of Kazakhstan in a barn burner repechage bout at 67 kg, 8-6. 

Black opened the scoring against Sabaz with a dynamite over-under toss going off the mat for four points. After a passivity try from par terre from both men, Black landed another two points off an underhook throw by sequence to take a 7-2 lead. Sabaz cut into the lead in the final stanza with a front headlock, go-behind and a turn. Sabaz’s corner challenged for a leg foul on Black after time expired, but the call was upheld, cementing Black’s spot in the bronze medal bout. 

His opponent this evening is Hungary’s Attila Jozsa, who appeared to suffer a series knee injury during last night’s semifinal round. It is up in the air if Jozsa will give it a go against Black tonight. 

The U.S. crew totaled a nearly perfect 11-1 record during the session with four technical falls and two pins. 

The tournament continues at 4:45 p.m. local time on Wednesday with the Greco-Roman group three (60-82 kg) and women’s freestyle group one (50-72-76 kg) semifinals, followed by the Greco-Roman group two (55-67-72-97 kg) medal matches at 6 p.m. Novi Sad, Serbia, is located six hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time. 

The U23 World Championships are streaming live on FloWrestling.com to the U.S. market. Brackets and updated results can be found on UWW Arena.

2025 U23 World Championships 

At Novi Sad, Serbia, October 22  

Reference Links 

• Live stream and archived matches

• Brackets and results

• Event photo gallery

• Team USA interviews

   

Greco-Roman Results 

Medal Match Pairings | Group Two 

55 kg 

Gold – Elmir Aliyev (Azerbaijan) vs. Alibek Amirov (UWW)

Bronze – Armin Shamsipourhaji (Iran) vs. Khojiakbar Kuchkarov (Uzbekistan)

Bronze – Yerassyl Mamyrbekov (Kazakhstan) vs. Vishvajit More (India) 

67 kg 

Gold – Anri Khozrevanidze (Georgia) vs. Mohamed Abdelrehim (Egypt)

Bronze – Hleb Makaranka (UWW) vs. Ahmadreza Mohsen Nezhad (Iran)

Bronze – Attila Jozsa (Hungary) vs. Otto Black (United States) 

72 kg 

Gold – Iman Mohammadi (Iran) vs. Abror Atabaev (Uzbekistan)

Bronze – Gaspar Terteryan (Armenia) vs. Ruslan Nurullayev (Azerbaijan)

Bronze – Merey Maulitkanov (Kazakhstan) vs. Danil Grigorev (UWW) 

97 kg 

Gold – Yehor Yakushenko (Ukraine) vs. Iussuf Matsiyev (Kazakhstan)

Bronze – Richard Karelson (Estonia) vs. Abubakar Khaslakhanau (UWW)

Bronze – Maksim Averin (UWW) vs. Arshak Geghamyan (Armenia) 

Semifinal Pairings | Group Three 

60 kg 

Koto Gomi (Japan) vs. Max Black (United States)

Sajjad Abbaspourragani (Iran) vs. Mehroj Bakhramov (Uzbekistan) 

82 kg 

Ibrahim Tabaev (Belgium) vs. Alexandrin Gutu (Moldova)

Ruslan Abdiiev (Ukraine) vs. Data Chkhaidze (Georgia) 

Women’s Freestyle Results 

Semifinal Pairings | Group One 

50 kg 

Aida Kerymova (Ukraine) vs. Audrey Jimenez (United States)

Natalia Pudova (UWW) vs. Jinyue Liang (China) 

72 kg 

Jasmine Robinson (United States) vs. Veronika Vilk (Croatia)

Nurzat Nurtaeva (Kyrgyzstan) vs. Mahiro Yoshitake (Japan) 

76 kg 

Elmira Yasin (Türkiye) vs. Valeriia Trifonova (UWW)

Kylie Welker (United States) vs. Edna Jimenez Villalba (Mexico)

U.S. Results 

Greco-Roman | Group Two 

55 kg – Kenneth Crosby (Colorado Springs, Colo./NMU National Training Center), eliminated 

LOSS Vishvajit More (India), tech. fall, 9-1 

67 kg – Otto Black (Marquette, Mich./NMU National Training Center/New York AC), bronze medal match 

WIN Adomas Grigaliunas (Lithuania), 7-3

WIN Yanis Guendez Nifri (France), fall, 5:51

LOSS Mohamed Abdelrehim (Egypt), 1-1

WIN Bagdat Sabaz (Kazakhstan), 7-6

VS Attila Jozsa (Hungary) 

72 kg – Aliaksandr Kikiniou (Escondido, Calif./Poway), eliminated 

LOSS Danil Grigorev (UWW), 3-0 

97 kg – Max Ramberg (Baldwin, Wis./Viking RTC), eliminated 

LOSS Kyo Kitawaki (Japan), tech. fall, 12-1 

Greco-Roman | Group Three 

60 kg – Max Black (Marquette, Mich./NMU National Training Center/New York AC), semifinals 

WIN Alhaji Turay (Sierra Leone), forfeit

WIN Olivier Skrzypczak (Poland), 2-1

WIN Zhaojian Wang (China), tech. fall, 8-0

VS Koto Gomi (Japan) 

82 kg – Beka Melelashvili (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC), awaiting repechage 

WIN Samandar Bobonazarov (Uzbekistan), 10-7

LOSS Ruslan Abdiiev (Ukraine), 2-1 

Women’s Freestyle | Group One 

50 kg – Audrey Jimenez (Bethlehem, PA./Lehigh Valley Wrestling RTC/Titan Mercury WC) semifinals 

WIN Svenja Jungo (Switzerland), 12-6

WIN Nohalis Loyo Jimenez (Venezuela), tech. fall, 10-0

VS Aida Kerymova (Ukraine) 

72 kg – Jasmine Robinson (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army WCAP), semifinals 

WIN Iryna Zablotska (Ukraine), fall, 0:59

WIN Haticenur Sari (Türkiye), fall, 1:29

VS Veronika Vilk (Croatia) 

76 kg – Kylie Welker (Iowa City, Iowa/Iowa Women’s WC/Titan Mercury WC), semifinals 

WIN Priya (India), tech. fall, 10-0

WIN Nyla Burgess (Canada), tech. fall, 11-0

VS Edna Jimenez Villalba (Mexico)