Women’s freestyle brackets released for 2025 World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia

ZAGREB, Croatia – The women’s freestyle draw has been finalized, and complete brackets have been released, for the 2025 Senior World Championships being held this week in Croatia’s capital city.

Olympic champion and three-time World champion Helen Maroulis enters the event as the top seed at 57 kg. He first round opponent is 2021 U20 World bronze medalist Emine Cakmak of Turkey. The pivotal round for Maroulis would come in the quarterfinals against either two-time U23 World medalist Himeka Tokuhara of Japan or 2024 U23 World champion Zhala Aliyeva of Azerbaijan.

2024 Olympic silver medalist Kennedy Blades holds the No. 4 seed at 68 kg. She awaits the winner between 2021 U23 World bronze medalist Radhika of India and Laura Godino of Italy in the round-of-16. 2024 World champion Ami Ishii of Japan looms in the quarterfinals.

Returning World medalists Macey Kilty and Kylie Welker are primed for repeat medal runs. Kilty, the No. 2 seed at 65 kg and two-time World medalist, has four-time age-group World medalist Alina Kasabieva of UWW in her opener. Welker slots in as No. 8 seed at 76 kg as she awaits the pigtail winner between Kristina Shumova of UWW and Vanesa Georgieva of Bulgaria.

Five-time age-group World medalist Audrey Jimenez and 2024 U20 World champion Cristelle Rodruigez, both of whom are seeded, sit in the round-of-16 with first-round byes. Jimenez will see either 2023 European bronze medalist Emanuela Liuzzi of Italy or two-time African medalist Chahrazed Ayachi of Tunisia at 50 kg. Rodriguez will face six-time age-group World medalist and two-time Olympian Andreea Ana of Romania or 2023 U20 World bronze Xuejing Liang of China at 55 kg.

The remaining four members of Team USA—Felicity Taylor at 53 kg, Jacarra Winchester at 59 kg, Adaugo Nwachukwu at 62 kg and Alexandria Glaude at 72 kg—were unseeded and drawn in at random. Notable first round opponents of the four include 2024 World silver medalist Jin Zhang of China for Taylor and 2024 U23 World bronze medalist Hong Liang of China for Winchester.

Initial opponents for each U.S. athlete can be found below.

Women’s freestyle is the second style to take the mats at Arena Zagreb. Athletes will compete in three waves over the course of the event—group one (55-59 kg) starting September 15, group two (50-57-65-76 kg) on September 16 and group three (53-62-68-72 kg) on September 17. 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 are being streamed live on FloWrestling.com to the U.S. market. Brackets and updated results are available on UWW Arena.