By Richard Immel
USA Wrestling

ZAGREB, Croatia – A couple young stars carried the flag for Team USA on Thursday morning at the 2025 Senior World Championships—2024 Olympic bronze medalist Kennedy Blades won in repechage and advanced to the bronze medal round in women’s freestyle, while 2024 U17 World champion Jayden Raney got Greco-Roman off to a hot start by making the quarterfinals.

Blades came out ultra-aggressive against two-time U23 World bronze medalist Manola Skobelska of Ukraine during her only match of the morning session. Blades was all over the legs, putting up points in bunches. She took the match 9-2 with three takedowns and three step out points to her credit.

It’ll be a marquee matchup in the 68 kg bronze medal match—Blades taking on 2024 Olympic bronze medalist and 2023 World champion Buse Cavusoglu Tosun of Türkiye. A Blades win this evening would put Team USA in position to make the top three in the team ranking.

The high school prodigy Raney navigated to the 55 kg quarterfinals with a pair of gritty wins. He opened with a 2-1 decision against Ukraine’s Koriun Sahradian, in a match of strategic positioning. Raney scored the only offensive point of the bout on a step out. In the second round, Raney fell behind Asian silver medalist Sajjad Ali Albidhan of Iraq, 3-1, before exploding to an arm drag takedown and bar arm pin at 4:23.

Raney went up against four-time World champion Eldaniz Azizli of Azerbaijan in the quarterfinals. Azizli built an early 5-0 lead with a savvy front headlock, go-behind takedown and added gutwrench. Raney was put down in forced par terre but held off any additional points. In the second period, Raney put forth a strong fight. He earned a chance on top but couldn’t find home. Azizli advanced with a 5-1 decision and needs a win in the semifinals to pull Raney into repechage.

Three U.S. entrants started the tournament 0-1 in Greco-Roman—Kamal Bey at 77 kg, Beka Melelashvili at 87 kg and Cohlton Schultz at 130 kg. Bey is still in the running for a repechage opportunity pending tonight’s semifinal results. The road has ended for Melelashvili and Schultz.

For a complete match-by-match breakdown of the morning session for Team USA in Zagreb, browse our day six match notes.

The tournament resumes at 4:30 p.m. local time on Thursday with the Greco-Roman group one (55-77-82-130 kg) semifinals, followed by the women’s freestyle group three (53-62-68-72 kg) medal matches at 6 p.m. Zagreb, Croatia, is in the GMT +2 time zone, which is six hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time. 

The Senior World Championships are streaming live on FloWrestling.com to the U.S. market. Brackets and updated results are available on UWW Arena.

USA Wrestling will provide regular updates on TheMat.com and its social media platforms throughout the event.

2025 Senior World Championships 

At Zagreb, Croatia, September 18 

Quick Links 

Event Hub

Live Stream

Brackets and Results

Women’s Freestyle Results 

Medal Match Pairings (Group Three) 

53 kg 

Gold – Lucia Yepez Guzman (Ecuador) vs. Haruna Murayama Okuno (Japan)

Bronze – Antim (India) vs. Emma Malmgren (Sweden)

Bronze – Hyogyong Choe (North Korea) vs. Shokhida Akhmedova (Uzbekistan)

62 kg 

Gold – Sakura Motoki (Japan) vs. Ok Ju Kim (North Korea)

Bronze – Orkhon Purevdorj (Mongolia) vs. Esther Kolawole (Nigeria)

Bronze – Amina Tandelova (UWW) vs. Bilyana Dudova (Bulgaria)

68 kg 

Gold – Ami Ishii (Japan) vs. Yuliana Yaneva (Bulgaria)

Bronze – Buse Cavusoglu Tosun (Türkiye) vs. Kennedy Blades (United States)

Bronze – Jia Long (China) vs. Sol Gum Pak (North Korea)

72 kg 

Gold – Alla Belinska (Ukraine) vs. Nesrin Bas (Türkiye)

Bronze – Nurzat Nurtaeva (Kyrgyzstan) vs. Paula Lecarpentier (France)

Bronze – Zelu Li (China) vs. Alexandra Anghel (Romania)

Greco-Roman Results 

Semifinal Pairings (Group One) 

55 kg 

Eldaniz Azizli (Azerbaijan) vs. Payam Ahmadi Balootaki (Iran)

Muhammet Cakir (Turkey) vs. Vakhtang Lolua (Georgia)

77 kg 

Robert Fritsch (Hungary) vs. Nao Kusaka (Japan)

Malkhas Amoyan (Armenia) vs. Alireza Abdevali (Iran)

82 kg 

Gholamreza Farokhisenjani (Iran) vs. Karlo Kodric (Croatia)

Taizo Yoshida (Japan) vs. Gela Bolkvadze (Georgia)

130 kg 

Amin Mirzazadeh (Iran) vs. Wenhao Jiang (China)

Darius Vitek (Hungary) vs. Pavel Hlinchuk (UWW)

U.S. Women’s Freestyle Results 

Group Three 

53 kg – Felicity Taylor (Coralville, Iowa/Big Game WC/Titan Mercury WC), Eliminated 

LOSS Jin Zhang (China), tech. fall, 10-0

62 kg – Adaugo Nwachukwu (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army WCAP), Eliminated 

WIN Selvi Ilyasoglu (Turkey), 7-3

WIN Johanna Lindborg (Sweden), 13-6

LOSS Orkhon Purevdorj (Mongolia), 5-2

68 kg – Kennedy Blades (Tiffin, Iowa/Hawkeye WC/Titan Mercury WC), Bronze Medal Match 

WIN Radhika (India), tech. fall, 11-0

LOSS Ami Ishii (Japan), tech. fall, 12-1

WIN Manola Skobelska (Ukraine), 9-2

VS Buse Cavusoglu Tosun (Türkiye)

72 kg – Alexandria Glaude (Menlo Park, Calif./California RTC/Titan Mercury WC), Eliminated 

WIN Svetlana Oknazarova (Uzbekistan), fall, 3:31

WIN Masako Furuichi (Japan), 3-2

LOSS Nurzat Nurtaeva (Kyrgyzstan), 8-4

U.S. Greco-Roman Results 

Group One 

55 kg – Jayden Raney (Sturgis, Ky./Union County/New York AC), Awaiting Repechage 

WIN Koriun Sahradian (Ukraine), 2-1

WIN Sajjad Ali Albidhan (Iraq), fall, 4:23

LOSS Eldaniz Azizli (Azerbaijan), 5-1

77 kg – Kamal Bey (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army WCAP), Awaiting Repechage 

LOSS Malkhas Amoyan (Armenia), 2-1

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

LOSS Shahin Badaghimofrad (Qatar), 6-4

130 kg – Cohlton Schultz (Tempe, Ariz./Atreus WC), Eliminated

LOSS Sergei Semenov (UWW), 5-2