By Richard Immel
USA Wrestling

NOVI SAD, Serbia – The U.S. picked up its sixth men’s freestyle semifinalist at the 2025 U23 World Championships with Senior World Team member Jax Forrest exploding to two first-period technical fall wins at 61 kg on Sunday morning.

Forrest let his offense loose against both opponents—Vasile Marcu of Moldova and Mykyta Abramov of Ukraine—putting up 23 points to his opponents none. He converted two four-point takedowns against Marcu. An ankle pick leading to a leg lace sequence ended the match against Abramov.

Up next for the high school phenom is Japan’s Akito Mukaida, who hasn’t logged much in the way of international competition. Forrest finished in fifth place at the Senior World Championships last month in Zagreb, Croatia, and was a silver medalist at the 2022 U17 Worlds.

The three remaining men’s freestyle group three athletes for Team USA all dropped tough matches in the morning session but still have hopes of a repechage berth entering the semifinal round.

Two-time age-group World champion Marcus Blaze took a 4-2 loss to Bilol Sharip Uulu of Kyrgyzstan in his opening match at 65 kg. Sharip Uulu kept Blaze at arm’s length for the bulk of the match. The only offensive points scored were step-outs. Sharip Uulu needs a win over 2025 Senior World bronze medalist Umidjon Jalolov of Uzbekistan tonight to keep Blaze in the bronze medal hunt.

Rocco Welsh and Garavous Kouekabakilaho picked up technical fall wins in every bout leading into the quarterfinals. Welsh fell to two-time age-group World medalist and Senior Asian champion Abolfazl Rahmani Firouzjaei of Iran, 7-3, at 86 kg. Kouekabakilaho was stifled by 2023 Senior World champion Rizabek Aitmukhan of Kazakhstan in an 11-0 loss at 97 kg.

The tournament continues at 5 p.m. local time on Sunday with the men’s freestyle group three (61-65-86-97 kg) semifinals, followed by the men’s freestyle group two (57-70-74-125 kg) medal matches at 6 p.m. Novi Sad, Serbia, is located six hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time.

Two-time age-group World champion Luke Lilledahl and Senior World silver medalist Levi Haines will compete for gold this evening. Going for bronze are U20 world champion PJ Duke and Heavyweight Daniel Herrera.

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 26 

Reference Links 

• Live stream and archived matches

• Brackets and results

• Event photo gallery

• Team USA interviews

Men’s Freestyle Results 

Medal Match Pairings | Group Two 

57 kg 

Gold – Yuta Kikuchi (Japan) vs. Luke Lilledahl (United States)

Bronze – Nodirbek Jumanazarov (Uzbekistan) vs. Vladyslav Abramov (Ukraine)

Bronze – Aiandai Ondar (UWW) vs. Milad Valizadeh (Iran)

70 kg 

Gold – Kanan Heybatov (Azerbaijan) vs. Sina Khalili (Iran)

Bronze – PJ Duke (United States) vs. Davit Margaryan (Armenia)

Bronze – Alexandr Gaidarli (Moldova) vs. Maiis Aliyev (Kazakhstan)

79 kg 

Gold – Ibrahim Yaprak (Turkiye) vs. Levi Haines (United States)

Bronze – Nikita Dmitrijevs Mayeuski (UWW) vs. Geannis Garzon Tamayo (Cuba)

Bronze – Davud Daudov (UWW) vs. Mahdi Yousefihajivar (Iran)

125 kg 

Gold – Abolfazl Mohammad Nezhad (Iran) vs. Khetag Karsanov (Azerbaijan)

Bronze – Khabib Davudgadzhiev (UWW) vs. Khachatur Khachatryan (Armenia)

Bronze – Daniel Herrera (United States) vs. Hakan Buyukcingil (Türkiye)

Semifinal Pairings | Group Three 

61 kg 

Tolga Ozbek (Türkiye) vs. Omurbek Asan Uulu (Kyrgyzstan)

Jax Forrest (United States) vs. Akito Mukaida (Japan)

65 kg 

Yuto Nishiuchi (Japan) vs. Sujeet (India)

Umidjon Jalolov (Uzbekistan) vs. Bilol Sharip Uulu (Kyrgyzstan)

86 kg 

Eugeniu Mihalcean (Moldova) vs. Abolfazl Rahmani Firouzjaei (Iran)

Arsen Balaian (UWW) vs. Tornike Samkharadze (Georgia)

97 kg 

Merab Suleimanishvili (Georgia) vs. Soslan Dzhagaev (UWW)

Rizabek Aitmukhan (Kazakhstan) vs. Arash Yoshida (Japan)

U.S. Results 

Men’s Freestyle | Group Two 

57 kg – Luke Lilledahl (State College, Pa./Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC), gold medal match 

WIN Honghang Liao (China), tech. fall, 10-0

WIN Milad Valizadeh (Iran), 11-5

WIN Aiandai Ondar (UWW), 7-1

VS Yuta Kikuchi (Japan)

70 kg – PJ Duke (Slate Hill, N.Y./Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC), bronze medal match 

WIN Begijon Kuldashev (Uzbekistan), 7-1

WIN Rostislav Leicht (Germany), tech. fall, 10-0

WIN Kaito Morita (Japan), 9-3

LOSS Kanan Heybatov (Azerbaijan), tech. fall, 14-4

VS Davit Margaryan (Armenia)

79 kg – Levi Haines (Bellefonte, Pa./Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC), gold medal match 

WIN Mahdi Yousefihajivar (Iran), 7-0

WIN Aykan Seid (Bulgaria), tech. fall, 10-0

WIN Davud Daudov (UWW), 11-4

VS Ibrahim Yaprak (Turkiye)

125 kg – Daniel Herrera (Ames, Iowa/Cyclone RTC), bronze medal match 

WIN Ryusei Fujita (Japan), 10-2

WIN Nambardagva Batbayar (Mongolia), fall, 4:44

LOSS Khetag Karsanov (Azerbaijan), tech. fall, 12-2

VS Hakan Buyukcingil (Türkiye)

Men’s Freestyle | Group Three 

61 kg – Jax Forrest (Johnstown, Pa./Cowboy RTC/Titan Mercury WC), semifinals 

WIN Vasile Marcu (Moldova), tech. fall, 13-0

WIN Mykyta Abramov (Ukraine), tech. fall, 10-0

VS Akito Mukaida (Japan)

65 kg – Marcus Blaze (State College, Pa./Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC), awaiting repechage 

LOSS Bilol Sharip Uulu (Kyrgyzstan), 4-2

86 kg – Rocco Welsh (Fredericktown, Pa./Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC), awaiting repechage 

WIN Aaron Ayzerov (Israel), tech. fall, 10-0

WIN Minghui Liang (China), tech. fall, 10-0

LOSS Abolfazl Rahmani Firouzjaei (Iran), 7-4

97 kg – Garavous Kouekabakilaho (San Diego, Calif./Viking WC), awaiting repechage 

WIN Mohamed Salaheldin (Egypt), tech. fall, 12-1

LOSS Rizabek Aitmukhan (Kazakhstan), tech. fall, 11-0