By Richard Immel
USA Wrestling

NOVI SAD, Serbia – Following a day that saw Team USA blitz the U23 World Championships field, the American bunch regressed to the mean with a tough morning session in downtown Novi Sad. 

2024 U20 World champion and current Senior World Team member Cristelle Rodriguez started the day strong with a powerful, first period pin against two-time U20 World medalist Gultakin Shirinova of Azerbaijan at 55 kg. She was well on her way to a quarterfinal win, up 6-0 on Germany’s Amory Andrich, before getting reversed from top and pinned in 2:22. 

Also posting a 1-1 record on Thursday morning was two-time age-group World Team member Isabella Mir at 65 kg. It was a similar story for Mir, who notched a 35-second pin against Cara Du Plessis of South Africa in round one before meeting her match in the quarters. UWW athlete Elizaveta Petliakova, a two-time U20 World medalist, took a 7-1 decision over Mir to end the session. 

Both Rodriguez and Mir eagerly await tonight’s semifinal results, needing wins from Andrich and Petliakova for repechage opportunities. 

Returning silver medalist Beka Melelashvili ran into Iranian buzzsaw Abolfazl Mohmedi in the 82 kg Greco-Roman repechage. The match was back and forth early, but Mohmedi pulled away in the second period, his pace and sound technique from neutral proving the difference in the 13-4 match. Melelashvili, a Senior World Team member, will finish outside of the medal matches for the first time in his three trips to the U23 Worlds. His previous placements were second and fifth. 

Two U.S. women finished the session with an 0-1 record, losing matches to UWW opponents, and were eliminated from the tournament—Cecilia Williams at 57 kg and Brooklyn Hays at 68 kg. Williams was competing in her first World Championships event. Hays finished in fifth place at this event last year. 

The tournament continues at 5 p.m. local time on Wednesday with the women’s freestyle group two (55-57-65-68 kg) semifinals, followed by the Greco-Roman group three (60-82 kg) and women’s freestyle group one (50-72-76 kg) medal matches at 6 p.m. Novi Sad, Serbia, is located six hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time. 

Going for gold medals in women’s freestyle this evening are Audrey Jimenez at 50 kg, Jasmine Robinson at 72 kg and Kylie Welker at 76 kg. On the Greco-Roman side, Max Black will shoot for the third U.S. bronze medal in the classic style at 60 kg. 

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 23  

Reference Links 

• Live stream and archived matches

• Brackets and results

• Event photo gallery

• Team USA interviews

 Greco-Roman Results 

Medal Match Pairings | Group Three 

60 kg 

Gold – Koto Gomi (Japan) vs. Sajjad Abbaspourragani (Iran)

Bronze – Max Black (United States) vs. Suren Aghajanyan (Armenia)

Bronze – Mehroj Bakhramov (Uzbekistan) vs. Ilkin Gurbanov (Azerbaijan)

 82 kg 

Gold – Alexandrin Gutu (Moldova) vs. Ruslan Abdiiev (Ukraine)

Bronze – Ibrahim Tabaev (Belgium) vs. Omar Satayev (Kazakhstan)

Bronze – Data Chkhaidze (Georgia) vs. Abolfazl Mohmedi (Iran)

 Women’s Freestyle Results 

Medal Match Pairings | Group One 

50 kg 

Gold – Audrey Jimenez (United States) vs. Jinyue Liang (China)

Bronze – Aida Kerymova (Ukraine) vs. Nohalis Loyo Jimenez (Venezuela)

Bronze – Natalia Pudova (UWW) vs. Munkhgerel Munkhbat (Mongolia)

 72 kg 

Gold – Jasmine Robinson (United States) vs. Nurzat Nurtaeva (Kyrgyzstan)

Bronze – Veronika Vilk (Croatia) vs. Haticenur Sari (Türkiye)

Bronze – Mahiro Yoshitake (Japan) vs. Laura Koehler (Germany)

 76 kg 

Gold – Valeriia Trifonova (UWW) vs. Kylie Welker (United States)

Bronze – Elmira Yasin (Türkiye) vs. Kaiyrkul Sharshebaeva (Kyrgyzstan)

Bronze – Edna Jimenez Villalba (Mexico) vs. Priya (India)

 Semifinal Pairings | Group Two 

55 kg 

Shugyla Omirbek (Kazakhstan) vs. Amory Andrich (Germany)

Tuba Demir (Türkiye) vs. Nishu (India)

 57 kg  

Roza Szenttamasi (Hungary) vs. Akari Fujinami (Japan)

Emine Cakmak (Türkiye) vs. Aryna Dzemchanka Martynava (UWW)

 65 kg 

Yuqi Rao (China) vs. Oleksandra Rybak (Ukraine)

Pulkit (India) vs. Elizaveta Petliakova (UWW)

 68 kg 

Srishti (India) vs. Alina Shevchenko (UWW)

Nesrin Bas (Türkiye) vs. Gulnura Tashtanbekova (Kyrgyzstan)

U.S. Results 

Greco-Roman | Group Three 

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

WIN Alhaji Turay (Sierra Leone), forfeit

WIN Olivier Skrzypczak (Poland), 2-1

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

LOSS Koto Gomi (Japan), tech. fall, 9-0

VS Suren Aghajanyan (Armenia)

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

WIN Samandar Bobonazarov (Uzbekistan), 10-7

LOSS Ruslan Abdiiev (Ukraine), 2-1

LOSS Abolfazl Mohmedi (Iran), tech. fall, 13-4

Women’s Freestyle | Group One 

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

WIN Svenja Jungo (Switzerland), 12-6

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

WIN Aida Kerymova (Ukraine), 5-2

VS Jinyue Liang (China)

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

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

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

WIN Veronika Vilk (Croatia), tech. fall, 10-0

VS Nurzat Nurtaeva (Kyrgyzstan)

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

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

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

WIN Edna Jimenez Villalba (Mexico), tech. fall, 16-6

VS Valeriia Trifonova (UWW)

Women’s Freestyle | Group Two 

55 kg – Cristelle Rodriguez (Crete, Neb./Tiger WC/Titan Mercury WC), awaiting repechage 

WIN Gultakin Shirinova (Azerbaijan), fall, 1:31

LOSS Amory Andrich (Germany), fall, 2:22

57 kg – Cecilia Williams (Lansing, Mich./Michigan Revolution WC), eliminated 

LOSS Anastasia Kozlova (UWW), 2-1

65 kg – Isabella Mir (Naperville, Ill./Cardinal WC), awaiting repechage 

WIN Cara Du Plessis (South Africa), fall, 0:35

LOSS Elizaveta Petliakova (UWW), 7-1

68 kg – Brooklyn Hays (Colorado Springs, Colo./USOPTC/Titan Mercury WC), eliminated 

LOSS Viktoryia Radzkova (UWW), fall, 5:41