U.S. women’s freestyle draw set at 2025 U23 World Championships

2025 U23 Worlds Women's Freestyle Brackets

NOVI SAD, Serbia – The draw is set for the women’s freestyle competition at the 2025 U23 World Championships being held this week at SPENS in downtown Novi Sad.

Two-time senior World medalist and defending U23 World champion Kylie Welker is the U.S. headliner, and she has drawn the most notable first round opponent of the American bunch. Welker begins her repeat bid against five-time age-group World medalist Priya of India, who was also fifth at this year’s Senior World Championships. A win would push Welker to the quarterfinals where she’d likely face Japan’s Makoto Komada, another top contender in the weight.

Three more Senior World Team members join Welker on the U.S. women’s roster—Audrey Jimenez at 50 kg, Cristelle Rodriguez at 55 kg and Adaugo Nwachukwu at 62 kg. Rodriguez is the only one of the three with a firm first round opponent. She’ll take on two-time U20 World bronze medalist Gultakin Shirinova of Azerbaijan. Jimenez and Nwachukwu both received a first-round bye and wait to see who will emerge from the preliminary rounds.

A couple other notable first round matchups for the U.S. women come at 68 kg and 72 kg with Brooklyn Hays and Jasmine Robinson each facing a past U23 World bronze medalist. Hays is up against Viktoryia Radzkova of UWW and Robinson takes on Iryna Zablotska of Ukraine.

Rounding out the U.S. entrants are Brianna Gonzalez at 53 kg, Cecilia Williams at 57 kg, Alexis Janiak at 59 kg, and Isabella Mir at 65 kg. Initial opponents for each American can be found below.

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.