Welker repeats at U23 Worlds, Team USA adds three medals to haul in Serbia
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by Richard Immel, USA Wrestling
Kylie Welker with the American Flag after winning the 2025 U23 World Championships.
NOVI SAD, Serbia – Team USA picked up its first champion at the 2025 U23 World Championships with Wisconsin’s own Kylie Welker completing her quest for a second-straight gold medal on Thursday night at SPENS in downtown Novi Sad.
Welker cruised in the 76 kg championship bout, scoring four takedowns and a turn to boot to finish returning bronze medalist Valeriia Trifonova of UWW, 10-0, in exactly two minutes. Welker finished the event with a 4-0 record, earning a technical fall in every match, and outscoring her opponents a combined 47-6. She was the 72 kg champion in Tirana, Albania, last year, and is a two-time Senior World bronze medalist.
Finishing with silver medals for the U.S. women were Audrey Jimenez at 50 kg and Jasmine Robinson at 72 kg. Both women came up just short in competitive gold medal matches after holding early leads.
Jimenez was the clear aggressor against China’s Jinyue Liang. She nailed the opening takedown of the match to lead 2-0 after the first minute. A couple takedowns for Liang, plus a caution and two call against Jimenez, swung the momentum of the match. A scoreless second period saw Liang get the win, 6-2.
Robinson’s final packed a little more punch, albeit things didn’t go in the American’s favor. After a tight first period saw Kyrgyzstan’s Nurzat Nurtaeva take a 1-0 lead to the break, Robinson punched back, exploding to a 10-3 lead. She was seemingly on her way to a second age-group World title. However, a pair of four pointers in the back half of the second period, largely off of Robinson’s counter attacks, put Nurtaeva over the top for an 11-10 win.
Jimenez is now a six-time age-group World medalist with five silvers and a bronze to her credit. She competed at her first Senior World Championships last month in Zagreb, Croatia. Robinson has tallied three age-group World medals to date—U17 bronze, U20 gold and U23 silver.
Max Black was the last man standing for Team USA Greco-Roman. After a phenomenal run to the semifinals on Wednesday, Black was unable to punch through to the medal stand. He was upended 8-0 in the 60 kg bronze medal match by Suren Aghajanyan of Armenia to fall to fifth place.
The U.S. finished tied for ninth place overall in the Greco-Roman team ranking with two bronze medalists in addition to Black’s fifth place points. Olympian Payton Jacobson scored bronze at 87 kg and Otto Black earned his second age-group World medal, taking bronze at 67 kg.
One American was pulled into tomorrow morning’s repechage round; Isabella Mir has new life at 65 kg in women’s freestyle. Mir takes on two-time age-group World champion Eniko Elekes of Hungary, winner to the bronze medal match.
The tournament continues at 10 a.m. local time on Friday with the women’s freestyle group two (55-57-65-68 kg) repechage, plus the women’s freestyle group three (53-59-62 kg) and men’s freestyle group one (74-92 kg) prelims. Americans Brianna Gonzalez, Alexis Janiak, Adaugo Nwachukwu, Mitchell Mesenbrink and Josh Barr step on the mats for the first time tomorrow. 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.
1. Iran, 143
2. Ukraine, 96
3. Azerbaijan, 93
4. Georgia, 81
5. Uzbekistan, 72
6. Kazakhstan, 72
7. Armenia, 71
8. Moldova, 64
T-9. Egypt, 40
T-9. United States, 40
Gold – Koto Gomi (Japan)
Silver – Sajjad Abbaspourragani (Iran)
Bronze – Suren Aghajanyan (Armenia)
Bronze – Mehroj Bakhramov (Uzbekistan)
5th – Max Black (United States)
5th – Ilkin Gurbanov (Azerbaijan)
7th – Kubanych Arinov (Kyrgyzstan)
8th – Kunal (India)
9th – Iskhar Kurbayev (Kazakhstan)
10th – Mert Ilbars (Turkiye)
Gold – Koto Gomi (Japan) tech. fall Sajjad Abbaspourragani (Iran), 9-0
Bronze – Suren Aghajanyan (Armenia) tech. fall Max Black (United States), 8-0
Bronze – Mehroj Bakhramov (Uzbekistan) dec. Ilkin Gurbanov (Azerbaijan), 5-4
Gold – Alexandrin Gutu (Moldova)
Silver – Ruslan Abdiiev (Ukraine)
Bronze – Omar Satayev (Kazakhstan)
Bronze – Abolfazl Mohmedi (Iran)
5th – Ibrahim Tabaev (Belgium)
5th – Data Chkhaidze (Georgia)
7th – Gamzat Gadzhiev (UWW)
8th – Alperen Berber (Turkiye)
9th – Samandar Bobonazarov (Uzbekistan)
10th – Elmin Aliyev (Azerbaijan)
Gold – Alexandrin Gutu (Moldova) dec. Ruslan Abdiiev (Ukraine), 1-1
Bronze – Omar Satayev (Kazakhstan) dec. Ibrahim Tabaev (Belgium), 8-6
Bronze – Abolfazl Mohmedi (Iran) dec. Data Chkhaidze (Georgia), 10-3
1. United States, 65
2. China, 37
3. Kyrgyzstan, 35
4. Turkiye, 25
5. Ukraine, 19
6. Japan, 17
T-7. Croatia, 15
T-7. Mongolia, 15
9. India, 15
10. Poland, 14
Gold – Jinyue Liang (China)
Silver – Audrey Jimenez (United States)
Bronze – Aida Kerymova (Ukraine)
Bronze – Munkhgerel Munkhbat (Mongolia)
5th – Nohalis Loyo Jimenez (Venezuela)
5th – Natalia Pudova (UWW)
7th – Natalia Walczak (Poland)
8th – Sviatlana Katenka (UWW)
9th – Marija Spirkovska (North Macedonia)
10th – Minoriho Yonehara (Japan)
Gold – Jinyue Liang (China) dec. Audrey Jimenez (United States), 6-2
Bronze – Aida Kerymova (Ukraine) dec. Nohalis Loyo Jimenez (Venezuela), 9-7
Bronze – Munkhgerel Munkhbat (Mongolia) dec. Natalia Pudova (UWW), 3-4
Gold – Nurzat Nurtaeva (Kyrgyzstan)
Silver – Jasmine Robinson (United States)
Bronze – Veronika Vilk (Croatia)
Bronze – Mahiro Yoshitake (Japan)
5th – Haticenur Sari (Türkiye)
5th – Laura Koehler (Germany)
7th – Vianne Rouleau (Canada)
8th – Liliana Rozhina (UWW)
9th – Yuqi Liu (China)
10th – Iryna Zablotska (Ukraine)
Gold – Nurzat Nurtaeva (Kyrgyzstan) dec. Jasmine Robinson (United States), 11-10
Bronze – Veronika Vilk (Croatia) dec. Haticenur Sari (Türkiye), 8-0
Bronze – Mahiro Yoshitake (Japan) fall Laura Koehler (Germany), 1:56
Gold – Kylie Welker (United States)
Silver – Valeriia Trifonova (UWW)
Bronze – Elmira Yasin (Türkiye)
Bronze – Priya (India)
5th – Kaiyrkul Sharshebaeva (Kyrgyzstan)
5th – Edna Jimenez Villalba (Mexico)
7th – Yifei Shen (China)
8th – Patrycja Cuber (Poland)
9th – Nyla Burgess (Canada)
10th – Mariia Zenkina (Ukraine)
Gold – Kylie Welker (United States) tech. fall Valeriia Trifonova (UWW), 10-0
Bronze – Elmira Yasin (Türkiye) dec. Kaiyrkul Sharshebaeva (Kyrgyzstan), 6-3
Bronze – Priya (India) dec. Edna Jimenez Villalba (Mexico), 8-1
55 kg – Shugyla Omirbek (Kazakhstan) vs. Tuba Demir (Türkiye)
57 kg – Akari Fujinami (Japan) vs. Aryna Dzemchanka Martynava (UWW)
65 kg – Yuqi Rao (China) vs. Elizaveta Petliakova (UWW)
68 kg – Alina Shevchenko (UWW) vs. Nesrin Bas (Türkiye)
Shugyla Omirbek (Kazakhstan) fall Amory Andrich (Germany), 1:00
Tuba Demir (Türkiye) dec. Nishu (India), 6-4
Akari Fujinami (Japan) tech. fall Roza Szenttamasi (Hungary), 10-0
Aryna Dzemchanka Martynava (UWW) fall Emine Cakmak (Türkiye), 0:34
Yuqi Rao (China) dec. Oleksandra Rybak (Ukraine), 6-5
Elizaveta Petliakova (UWW) dec. Pulkit (India), 9-6
Alina Shevchenko (UWW) dec. Srishti (India), 10-6
Nesrin Bas (Türkiye) dec. Gulnura Tashtanbekova (Kyrgyzstan), 8-6
WIN Alhaji Turay (Sierra Leone), forfeit
WIN Olivier Skrzypczak (Poland), 2-1
WIN Zhaojian Wang (China), tech. fall, 8-0
LOSS Koto Gomi (Japan), tech. fall, 9-0
LOSS Suren Aghajanyan (Armenia), tech. fall, 8-0
WIN Samandar Bobonazarov (Uzbekistan), 10-7
LOSS Ruslan Abdiiev (Ukraine), 2-1
LOSS Abolfazl Mohmedi (Iran), tech. fall, 13-4
WIN Svenja Jungo (Switzerland), 12-6
WIN Nohalis Loyo Jimenez (Venezuela), tech. fall, 10-0
WIN Aida Kerymova (Ukraine), 5-2
LOSS Jinyue Liang (China), 6-2
WIN Iryna Zablotska (Ukraine), fall, 0:59
WIN Haticenur Sari (Türkiye), fall, 1:29
WIN Veronika Vilk (Croatia), tech. fall, 10-0
LOSS Nurzat Nurtaeva (Kyrgyzstan), 11-10
WIN Priya (India), tech. fall, 10-0
WIN Nyla Burgess (Canada), tech. fall, 11-0
WIN Edna Jimenez Villalba (Mexico), tech. fall, 16-6
WIN Valeriia Trifonova (UWW), tech. fall, 10-0
WIN Gultakin Shirinova (Azerbaijan), fall, 1:31
LOSS Amory Andrich (Germany), fall, 2:22
LOSS Anastasia Kozlova (UWW), 2-1
WIN Cara Du Plessis (South Africa), fall, 0:35
LOSS Elizaveta Petliakova (UWW), 7-1
VS Eniko Elekes (Hungary)
LOSS Viktoryia Radzkova (UWW), fall, 5:41
Jimenez, Robinson, Welker make U23 World finals, M. Black to bronze bout
Four Americans into day three semis, O. Black to bronze match at U23 World Championships
Jimenez finishes with silver, Cooper and Robinson fifth as U.S. women finish fourth in Bulgaria
Match Notes: U23 World Championships Day Three
