By Jason Bryant
Special to TheMat.com

SAMOKOV, Bulgaria – American Audrey Jimenez successfully earned a fourth age group medal with a 14-3 semifinal victory at 50kg over Ukraine’s Diana Rysova on Thursday night at Arena Samokova in Samokov, Bulgaria.

Jimenez, a U20 silver medalist each of the last two years and a redshirt freshman at the new varsity program at Lehigh, gave up her first points of the tournament, but Jimenez’s signature ankle lace proved to be lethal in pushing Jimenez, who is also the U.S. Senior World Team rep, to the final in a 14-3 technical superiority victory over Ukraine's Diana Rysova . She’ll face Japan’s Rinka Ogawa, a 2023 U17 world champion. Ogawa beat India’s Shruti 11-0 in the semifinals and pinned her first two opponents.

The U.S. wasn’t as fortunate in the semifinals at 53kg and 72kg where Abbi Cooper and Jasmine Robinson lost and will wrestle for bronze on Friday night.

Cooper was pinned by 2023 U17 world champion Natsumi Masuda in the first period. Masuda will face Ukraine’s Anastasiia Polska, a two-time U17 bronze medalist who has two techs and a fall in the tournament thus far. Polska rolled up India’s Saarika in the semifinals 10-0 in 56 seconds.

Robinson fell to 2024 U17 world champion Kajal of India 13-6. Robinson went up early, but Kajal was deceptively quick with her counter attacks and went toe-to-toe with Robinson in the strength department. Kajal will take on China’s Yuqi Liu, who defeated Turkiey’s Haticenur Sari 13-2 in the semifinals. Liu was a 2024 U20 world silver medalist, falling to Robinson in last year’s final.

In Greco-Roman, Armenia’s Yurik Mkhitaryan blitzed into the 60kg finals with a 9-0 technical superiority win over India’s Suraj in a matchup of past U17 medalists. Mkhitaryan twice won bronze medals at the lower age group. Suraj was a 2022 U17 world champion. Mkhitaryan will face Azerbaijan’s Aykhan Javadov, who pinned Vakhtang Lolua of Georgia in a rematch of last year’s U17 world final.

At 82kg, Kazakhstan’s Dias Seitkaliyev, the 2025 U20 Asian champion, pinned Japan’s Tazio Yoshida in 1:42 to advance to the finals. Yoshida was a past U17 world champion and was fifth at last year’s Senior world championships. Seitkaliyev will face UWW athlete Mikhail Shkarin, who beat Armenia’s Martik Petrosyan 9-0 in the other semifinal. Shkarin won a U17 world title last year and was this year’s U20 European champion.

2025 U20 World Championships

At Samokov, Bulgaria, August 17-24

Quick Links

• U.S. Greco-Roman athlete bios

• U.S. women's freestyle athlete bios

• Event entry list

• Live stream and archived matches

• Brackets and results

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Gold Medal Matches

Women’s Freestyle

50kg: Rinka Ogawa (Japan) vs. Audrey Jimenez (United States)

53kg: Natsumi Masuda (Japan) vs. Anastasiia Polska (Ukraine)

72kg: Kajal (India) vs. Yuqi Liu (China)

Greco-Roman

60kg: Yurik Mkhitaryan (Armenia) vs. Aykhan Javadov (Azerbaijan)

82kg: Mikhail Shkarin (United World Wrestling) vs. Dias Seitkaliyev (Kazakhstan)

Semifinal Results

Greco-Roman

60kg

Aykhan Javadov (Azerbaijan) fall Vakhtang Lolua (Georgia) 4:40

Yurik Mkhitaryan (Armenia) tech. fall Suraj Suraj (India) 9-0

82kg

Dias Seitkaliyev (Kazakhstan) tech. fall Taizo Yoshida (Japan) 9-0

Mikhail Shkarin (UWW) tech. fall Martik Petrosyan (Armenia) 9-0

Women’s Freestyle

50kg

Audrey Jimenez (United States) tech. fall Diana Rysova (Ukraine) 14-3

Rinka Ogawa (Japan) tech. fall Shruti Shruti (India) 11-0

53kg

Anastasiia Polska (Ukraine) tech. fall Saarika Saarika (India) 10-0

Natsumi Masuda (Japan) fall Abigale Rose Cooper (United States) 2:29

72kg

Yuqi Liu (China) tech. fall Haticenur Sari (Turkey) 13-2

Kajal Kajal (India) dec. Jasmine Dolores Robinson (United States) 13-6