Draws set for Women's Freestyle competition at U20 World Championships in Bulgaria

SAMOKOV, Bulgaria – The 10-wrestler women's freestyle continent from the United States now knows who their opponents will be in their opening matches at the U20 World Championships in Samokov, Bulgaria. United World Wrestling released the full draws on Monday afternoon.

With three past U20 medalists, this year's U.S. team is a mix of experienced age group stars, medalists and rising stars. Leading the way are four-time age-group world medalist and two-time U20 silver medalist Audrey Jimenez, returning U20 world champion Jasmine Robinson and 2024 U20 world bronze medalist Naomi Simon.

Jimenez, also the Team USA representative at the Senior World Championships next month in Croatia, will make her first World championship appearance of the year at 50kg when she draws Adriana Daniseviciute of Lithuania in the first round. Daniseviciute is making her worlds debut and finished 14th at the U20 European championships. Most of the potential landmines in the draw are in the top side of the bracket, away from Jimenez, including three 2025 U20 European Medalists and 2023 U17 world champion Rinka Ogawa of Japan.

At 53kg, Abbi Cooper will make her international debut against Bulgaria's Nikol Aleksandrova. Aleksandrova has seen minimal success internationally. Japan's 2023 U17 world champion Natsumi Masuda is on the top half of the bracket with Cooper.

Everest Leydecker’s first U20 world championships will kick off with a 55kg match against Evdoxia Papadopoulou of Greece, who finished 14th at the 2021 U17 World championships. The bottom half of the draw has past age-group medalists Lilya Cohen of France, Tuba Demir of Turkiye, Fabiana Rinella of Italy, and So Tsutsui of Japan.

At 57kg, Carissa Qureshi will open with Csilla Van Os of the Netherlands. Past age-group medalists on the same side of the draw with Qureshi are Tindra Dalmyr of Sweden and Anna Stratan of Kazakhstan.

At 59kg, Aubre Krazer will draw Kazakhstan’s Anel Shokayeva, who was seventh at the Asian championships. Up in the top side of the draw with Krazer are past age-group world medalists Marta Hetmanava of UWW and Sevim Akbas of Turkiye and U20 world champion Sakura Onishi of Japan.

Hallie Jaffe will take on Japan’s Shirin Takemoto at 62kg. Takemoto is making her first world championship appearance.

Daniella Nugent will begin her 65kg tournament with Uzbekistan’s Mukhayyo Narzilloeva, a bronze medalist at this past year's U20 Asian championships.

At 68kg, Jordan Fouse will have a bye into the quarterfinals. Fouse will take on either Ayse Erkan of Turkiye or Ray Hoshino of Japan. Hoshino was a 2023 U20 world champion, while Erkan was the 2024 U20 world silver medalist.

Robinson’s quest to repeat will start with a bout against 2024 U20 world bronze medalist Elvira Ersson of Sweden at 72kg. India's Kajal also looms on the top side of the bracket with Robinson. Kajal was a 2024 U17 world champion.

Simon will open up with Rupinder Johal of Canada in a small but loaded 76kg weight class. Of the 14 entries, eight have previously won age-group world medals, including a pair of U20 world champions - Ayano Moro of Japan and Priya of India.

Those seeking to follow along in real time can reference the event schedule below. Samokov, Bulgaria, is in the GMT +3 time zone, which is seven hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time. USA Wrestling will provide regular updates on TheMat.com and its social media platforms throughout the event.

The U20 World Championships will be live streamed on FloWrestling.com to the U.S. market. Brackets and updated results will be provided by United World Wrestling on UWW Arena.