Forrest techs in semis, moves to men’s freestyle final at U23 World Championships

NOVI SAD, Serbia – A fourth finalist in men’s freestyle is on the board for Team USA at the 2025 U23 World Championships. Jax Forrest picked up his third technical fall of the day to advance to the 61 kg gold medal final.

In the semifinals against Japan’s Akito Mukaida, Forrest opened up a tied match in the second period with some slick takedown-to-lace transition offense. The match was 5-5 with two minutes left before Forrest exploded with 10-straight points.  

The 61 kg championship bout, which is set for tomorrow evening at SPENS in downtown Novi Sad, pits Forrest against 2024 U17 World champion Omurbek Asan Uulu of Kyrgyzstan, who was equally as dominant on Sunday. Asan Uulu won four bouts by technical fall to make the final.

Two-time age-group World champion Marcus Blaze at 65 kg, Rocco Welsh at 86 kg and Garavous Kouekabakilaho at 97 kg were dealt a bad hand in the semifinal round and were not pulled back into the tournament. Forrest will be the only group three wrestler for Team USA to advance to Monday’s medal round.

The tournament continues at 6 p.m. local time on Sunday with the men’s freestyle group two (57-70-74-125 kg) medal matches. Novi Sad, Serbia, is located five hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time.

Two-time age-group World champion Luke Lilledahl and Senior World silver medalist Levi Haines will compete for gold this evening. Going for bronze are U20 world champion PJ Duke and Heavyweight Daniel Herrera.

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.