U.S. draw set in Greco-Roman at 2025 U23 World Championships

2025 U23 Worlds Championships Greco-Roman Brackets

NOVI SAD, Serbia – The U.S. Greco-Roman group has received its draw at the U23 World Championships following Sunday evening’s bracket release at SPENS in downtown Novi Sad.

Top medal threats for Team USA include Paris Olympian Payton Jacobson at 87 kg, returning U23 World silver medalist Beka Melelashvili at 82 kg and reigning Senior Pan American champion Max Black at 60 kg.

Both Jacobson and Black are positioned in the round-of-32 to start the event. Jacobson opens against U20 Asian silver medalist Rohit Bura of India, while Black will face Alhaji Turay of Sierra Leone. Melelashvili has a bye to the round-of-16 and awaits the winner between U23 Asian champion Samandar Bobonazarov of Uzbekistan and U20 Asian bronze medalist Prince of India.

Jacobson, Melelashvili and Black all competed at the Senior World Championships last month in Zagreb, Croatia, and are the only three returning team members from last year’s U23 Worlds in Tirana, Albania.

Looking for a return trip to an age-group World podium are 2024 U20 World runner-up Otto Black at 67 kg and two-time U20 World bronze medalist Aden Attao at 130 kg. Black has a favorable opener against Adomas Grigaliunas of Lithuania. Attao will face a stiffer task in his first bout against either 2023 U23 World silver medalist and current U23 European champion Mykhailo Vyshnyvetskyi of Ukraine or three-time age-group World medalist Cemal Bakir of Türkiye.

A couple other U.S. notables from the first round include Aliaksandr Kikiniou drawing U23 European silver medalist Danil Grigorev of UWW at 72 kg and Kenneth Crosby receiving the winner of a preliminary bout between 2024 Senior World bronze medalist Denis Mihai of Romania and 2024 U23 World bronze medalist Vishvajit More of India at 55 kg.

Additional Americans in the Greco-Roman field include Kaden Ercanbrack at 63 kg, Aydin Rix McElhinney at 77 kg and Max Ramberg at 97 kg. First round opponents for each U.S. athlete can be found below.

Greco-Roman is the first style up in Novi Sad. Athletes will compete in three waves over the course of the event—group one (63-77-87-130 kg) starting October 20, group two (55-67-72-97 kg) on October 21 and group three (60-82 kg) on October 22. 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.