Olympians Coleman, Sancho, Bey, Jacobson lead U.S. Greco-Roman Team to 2025 World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia

Fans who follow the Senior-level circuit closely will recognize, the U.S. Greco-Roman coaching staff took a different approach to its team selection in 2025, with a specific goal of improving results at the big show in Zagreb. Unlike the men’s and women’s freestyle programs that decided its team at Final X in June, the Greco-Roman team was finalized at the U.S. Open in April. The additional two months of leadup was used intentionally with an increased investment in team cohesion, overseas training and competitions. The Greco-Roman group has spent more time in international territory ahead of the Worlds than ever before. Getting those foreign feels and working with elite Greco-Roman specialists should prove fruitful for Team USA.

A promising, young transfer athlete from Georgia has ascended to the No. 1 ranking in the U.S. and is among the team’s best chances to medal in Zagreb. Beka Melelashvili boasted a strong age-group career for Georgia that culminated with a fifth-place finish at the 2022 U23 Worlds. Thereafter, Melelashvili moved to the U.S. full-time and has built himself into a contender on the Senior level. He is the reigning Pan American champion and was a silver medalist at last year’s U23 World Championships, further proving his international chops.

With a U17 World title in his bag from last year, big things are naturally expected of 18-year-old Jayden Raney. But perhaps not this soon. With another year of high school in front of him, Raney made a surprising jump from age-group star to Senior World Team member with apparent ease. As we all know, going from U17 to Senior is a jump few make with immediate success. That said, Raney proved his mettle with a gold medal effort at the Senior Pan American Championships. If he can match the physicality of others in his bracket, Raney could be the dark horse to watch for a U.S. medal finish.

Of the 10 Olympic and World champions crowned last year, six have returned for the first Worlds of the LA 2028 quadrennial. Paris Olympic champions Saeid Esmaeili Leivesi (67 kg) and Mohammadhadi Saravi (97 kg) of Iran, plus Nao Kusaka (77 kg) of Japan, return to their Olympic weights for another run. The Azerbaijan trio of Eldaniz Azizli (55 kg), Nihat Mammadli (60 kg) and Ulvi Ganizadeh (72 kg) were champions at the 2024 Non-Olympic Weight Worlds held in Tirana, Albania. Mammadli won the 63 kg bracket in Albania and has dropped to 60 kg for Zagreb.

In addition to last year’s crop of gold medalists, 14 others enter Zagreb with an Olympic or World title in Greco-Roman on the resume. Artur Aleksanan of Armenia (2016) and Luis Orta Sanchez of Cuba (2020) are past Olympic champions. Those with a World title include Aleksanyan (2014, 2015, 2017, 2022), Orta Sanchez (2023),  Heiki Nabi of Estonia (2006, 2013), Sergey Emelin of Russia (2018), Sergey Semenov of Russia (2018), Lasha Gobadze of Georgia (2019), Victor Ciobanu of Moldova (2021), Malkhas Amoyan of Armenia (2021), Sebastian Nad of Serbia (2022), Ali Arsalan of Serbia (2022), Leri Abduladze of Georgia (2023), Ibrahim Ghanem of France (2023), David Losonczi of Hungary (2023) and Gabriel Rosillo Kindelan of Cuba (2023).

After coming up one win short of gold in Paris, 2016 Olympic champion and four-time World champion Artur Aleksanyan of Armenia is back for more. The four-time Olympic medalist, who lost 4-1 to Mohammadhadi Saravi of Iran in the Olympic finals, was last atop the World podium in 2022. A fifth-place finish at the European Championships would hint at Aleksanyan’s decline. The question remains if the fiery Armenian has another run in him or if the field has finally caught up for good. In addition to Aleksanyan and Saravi, 2023 World champion Gabriel Rosillo Kindelan of Cuba should not be overlooked at 97 kg.  

Azerbaijan’s Eldaniz Azizli has been a force at 55 kg, the lightest Greco-Roman weight class, since making his first Senior Worlds appearance in 2018. He owns four World titles (2018, 2022, 2023, 2024) and a pair of bronze medals (2019, 2021) which have solidified him as one of the most consistent Greco-Roman wrestlers in the world. He has posted a below par 2025 campaign by his standards finishing with a silver medal at the European Championships and outside the medal stand at the Zagreb Open. UWW athlete Emin Sefershaev defeated Azizli in the European finals and is the top threat to a fifth World gold for Azizli.

Don’t let the fact 72 kg is a non-Olympic weight fool you. It is perhaps the most electric bracket in the Greco-Roman field with three past World champions as the top three seeds—No. 1 Ulvi Ganizadeh of Azerbaijan, No. 2 Ali Arsalan of Serbia and No. 3 Ibrahim Ghanem of France. An added wrinkle comes from Taishi Narikuni of Japan, who was the 2022 World champion at 70 kg in men’s freestyle, and is competing in Greco-Roman at Senior level for the first time. Two-time Olympic silver medalist Parviz Nasibov of Ukraine and 2022 World bronze medalist Amantur Ismailov of Kyrgyzstan jump up from 67 kg into the weight class to add further title-contending depth. 2023 U23 World champion Dmitri Adamov, a UWW athlete, will also have his say.  

Greco-Roman is the third and final style to take the mats at Arena Zagreb. Athletes will compete in three waves over the course of the event—group one (55-77-82-130 kg) starting September 18, group two (60-72-97 kg) on September 19 and group three (63-67-87 kg) on September 20. 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. Zagreb, Croatia, 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 Senior 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.

• Event entry list and seeds
• Live stream
• Brackets and results

10:30 a.m. – Qualification Rounds (GR 55-77-82-130 kg)

4:30 p.m. – Semifinals (GR 55-77-82-130 kg)

10:30 a.m. – Qualification Rounds (GR 60-72-97 kg), Repechage (GR 55-77-82-130 kg)

4:45 p.m. – Semifinals (GR 60-72-97 kg)

6 p.m. – Medal Matches (GR 55-77-82-130 kg)

10:30 a.m. – Qualification Rounds (GR 63-67-87 kg), Repechage (GR 60-72-97 kg)

4:45 p.m. – Semifinals (GR 63-67-87 kg)

6 p.m. – Medal Matches (GR 60-72-97 kg)

4:30 p.m. – Repechage (GR 63-67-87 kg)

6 p.m. – Medal Matches (GR 63-67-87 kg)

*Listed times reflect local time in Zagreb, Croatia, which is six hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time.

55 kg – Jayden Raney (Sturgis, Ky./Union County/New York AC)

60 kg – Max Black (Marquette, Mich./NMU-National Training Center/New York AC)

63 kg – Ellis Coleman (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army WCAP)

67 kg – Alston Nutter (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army WCAP)

72 kg – Alejandro Sancho (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army WCAP)

77 kg – Kamal Bey (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army WCAP)

82 kg – Beka Melelashvili (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC)

87 kg – Payton Jacobson (Marquette, Mich./NMU-National Training Center/New York AC)

97 kg – Michial Foy (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army WCAP)

130 kg – Cohlton Schultz (Tempe, Ariz./Atreus WC)

U.S. National Team Head Coach – Herb House  

USA Wrestling Assigned Coach – Ike Anderson

Personal Coach – Spenser Mango

Personal Coach – Tarieli Melelashvili

Personal Coach – Eric Thompson

Personal Coach – Andy Bisek

Personal Coach – Zo El Ouarraqe

Personal Coach – Shon Lewis 

Training Partner – Jordyn Raney 

Training Partner – Ildar Hafizov  

Training Partner – Otto Black  

Training Partner – Britton Holmes  

Training Partner – Aaron Dobbs  

Training Partner – Tim Young                   

Training Partner – Aden Attao  

USA Wrestling National Teams Staff – Cody Bickley 

MD – David Haight  

ATC – Andrew Ernst 

ATC – Terry Grindstaff 

ATC – Rae Martin 

DC – Jason Durnas

DC – Jessica Kapungulya

DC – Sam Nelson 

MT – Aaron Pavlechko 

MT – Amy Murry

MT – Allison Anderson

Nutrition – Rob Skinner 

Nutrition – Nuwanee Tamaki 

Official – Susanna Sylstad 

Official – Sammy Julian 

Team Leader – James Dinan 

Secretary General – Rich Bender 

President – Bruce Baumgartner

NF Media – Richard Immel 

NF Media – Ava Fricke  

Photographer – Tony Rotundo

NF Official – Ken Honig