Four Americans into day three semis, O. Black to bronze match at U23 World Championships

NOVI SAD, Serbia – Team USA has officially arrived at the 2025 U23 World Championships with a dynamite Wednesday morning session at SPENS that saw four athletes make the semifinals and one advance to a bronze medal match.

Two-time Senior World medalist and defending U23 World champion Kylie Welker, 2024 U20 World champion Jasmine Robinson and five-time age-group World medalist Audrey Jimenez got the party started for the U.S. women in Novi Sad. All three picked up a pair of nice wins and qualified for the Wednesday evening semifinals.

Welker set the tone with a 10-0 thrashing of five-time age-group World medalist Priya of India and followed with an 11-0 technical fall over Senior Pan American silver medalist Nyla Burgess of Canada at 76 kg. Her semifinal opponent is U20 Pan American champion Edna Jimenez Villalba of Mexico.

Robinson was equally as dominant with a set of first period pins at 72 kg. She stuck 2023 U23 World bronze medalist Iryna Zablotska of Ukraine in 59 seconds and backed it up with a pin at 1:29 against U23 European bronze medalist Haticenur Sari of Türkiye. Up next for Robinson is 2023 U17 World champion Veronika Vilk of Croatia.

Jimenez was the only U.S. woman to go to a decision. She looked sluggish to start at 50 kg, falling behind 6-0 to Switzerland’s Svenja Jungo, a two-time age-group World medalist. Jimenez reeled off 12-straight points to get the win, 12-6. She looked much improved in the next round against Senior Pan American bronze medalist Nohalis Loyo Jimenez of Venezuela, picking up a 10-0 technical fall. Two-time age group World medalist Aida Kerymova of Ukraine stands in the way of a fifth age-group World finals appearance for Jiminez.

On the Greco-Roman side, Senior World Team members Max Black at 60 kg and Beka Melelashvili at 82 kg took the mats and are both still in medal contention.

Black got better as the day went on. He received an opening round forfeit from Alhaji Turay of Sierra Leone, battled to a 2-1 comeback win over Olivier Skrzypczak of Poland and crushed Zhaojian Wang of China, 8-0. Black solidified his place in the semifinals against 2024 U20 Asian champion Koto Gomi of Japan.

Melelashvili, a retuning U23 World silver medalist, posted a 1-1 record, dropping his quarterfinal match to two-time U20 European bronze medalist Ruslan Abdiiev of Ukraine, 2-1. Melelashvili opened with a wild 10-7 win against U23 Asian champion Samandar Bobonaz of Uzbekistan. An Abdiiev win in the semifinals pulls Melelashvili into the repechage where he will have a chance to wrestle back for bronze.

2024 U20 World silver medalist Otto Black is in position to earn his second age-group World medal, and the second medal at the U23 Worlds for the U.S. Greco-Roman program. Black defeated U23 Asian champion Bagdat Sabaz of Kazakhstan in a barn burner repechage bout at 67 kg, 8-6.

Black opened the scoring against Sabaz with a dynamite over-under toss going off the mat for four points. After a passivity try from par terre from both men, Black landed another two points off an underhook throw by sequence to take a 7-2 lead. Sabaz cut into the lead in the final stanza with a front headlock, go-behind and a turn. Sabaz’s corner challenged for a leg foul on Black after time expired, but the call was upheld, cementing Black’s spot in the bronze medal bout.

His opponent this evening is Hungary’s Attila Jozsa, who appeared to suffer a series knee injury during last night’s semifinal round. It is up in the air if Jozsa will give it a go against Black tonight.

The U.S. crew totaled a nearly perfect 11-1 record during the session with four technical falls and two pins.

The tournament continues at 4:45 p.m. local time on Wednesday with the Greco-Roman group three (60-82 kg) and women’s freestyle group one (50-72-76 kg) semifinals, followed by the Greco-Roman group two (55-67-72-97 kg) medal matches at 6 p.m. Novi Sad, Serbia, is located six hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time.

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.