Returning champion Welker leads U.S. women’s team to 2025 U23 World Championships

Four Senior World Team members, including two-time Senior World medalist Kylie Welker, will lead the U.S. women’s freestyle team into battle at the upcoming U23 World Championships being held at SPENS in Novi Sad, Serbia, October 20-27.

Welker, who is fresh off her second-straight bronze medal win at the Senior World Championships, won a U23 World title last fall at 72 kg. She has moved up to 76 kg this year and is strong favorite to claim gold once again.  

Senior World Team members joining Welker on the U23 roster include Audrey Jimenez at 50 kg, Cristelle Rodriguez at 55 kg and Adaugo Nwachukwu at 62 kg. All three have made the podium at an age-group World Championships—Jimenez is a five-time age-group World medalist, Rodriguez has made two age-group finals including a gold medal win from the 2024 U20 Worlds, and Nwachukwu holds a U20 World bronze from 2022.

Welker and Nwachukwu were members of last year’s U23 team, as was 68 kg entrant Brooklyn Hays, who earned fifth place in Tirana, Albania. Hays navigated to Final X and finished No. 2 on the U.S. Senior National Team ladder this year. Brianna Gonzalez at 53 kg and Alexis Janiak at 59 kg are also current National Team members. Janiak brings great experience to the mix as a two-time U20 World medalist.

Filling out the rest of the U.S. roster are upstart Cecilia Williams at 57 kg, 2023 U20 World Team member Isabella Mir at 65 kg and 2024 U20 World champion Jasmine Robinson at 72 kg.

The college ties run deep with this crew—Welker and Gonzalez come from the Iowa room, Jimenez leads the team at Lehigh in this its inaugural varsity season, Rodriguez has seen great success at Doane, Nwachukwu competed for Iowa Wesleyan and William Penn, Janiak is at Aurora, and Mir has experience with both Iowa and North Central.

First selection to the U23 World Team comes from the Senior National Team pool in each weight class. The highest ranked U23 eligible athlete on the Senior National Team gets first choice on accepting a bid to the U23 Worlds. If no Senior National Team athlete meets the selection criteria or accepts the bid, next choice goes to the champion from the U23 Nationals held in Spokane, Wash.

The U.S. finished as team champions in the women’s freestyle division at the 2024 U23 World Championships with 136 total team points which included three champions, a silver medalist and a bronze medalist.

Women’s freestyle is the second style up in Novi Sad. Athletes will compete in three waves over the course of the event—group one (50-72-76 kg) starting October 22, group two (55-57-65-68 kg) on October 23 and group three (53-59-62 kg) on October 24. Each bracket will be contested over a two-day stretch, running through semifinals on day one, followed by repechage and medal matches on day two.

Those seeking to follow along in real time can reference the event schedule below. Novi Sad, Serbia, is in the GMT +2 time zone, which is six 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 U23 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.