By Jason Bryant
Special to TheMat.com

SAMOKOV, Bulgaria – Audrey Jimenez won her fifth career age-group medal and a fourth career silver as the women’s freestyle competition came to a close on Friday night at Arena Samokov in Samokov, Bulgaria.

All three American women fell in medal matches in the final session, with Abbi Cooper dropping an 11-10 heartbreaker in the bronze medal match at 53kg. Jasmine Robinson did not compete in the bronze medal bout at 72kg, injury defaulting out of the tournament after sustaining an injury in her semifinal loss on Thursday.

In the 50kg final, Jimenez struck first in her 9-3 loss to Japan’s Rinka Ogawa, but found herself fighting off her back for a good portion of the first period. Even after avoiding disaster, Jimenez only trailed 4-2 going into the break. In the second, Ogawa countered a Jimenez attack with a quick exposure and then finished the scoring in a scramble late that netted both athletes points.

It was the first of two titles on the night for Japan, which also won at 53kg where Natsumi Matsuda shut out Ukraine’s Anatasiia Polska 6-0.

As they have historically, Japan dominated, winning half of the weights and finishing with 165 points and seven total medals. India was second, with 140 points coming from seven medals – two of which were gold. China was third with 104 and five medals.

Team USA finished with 95 points, which was good enough for fourth place, but just two medals. The U.S. squad fell in all four bronze medal bouts in which they appeared.

The U.S. women's freestyle team finished fourth at the U20 World Championships in Samokov, Bulgaria. (Photo by Richard Immel, USA Wrestling)

Cooper, who will join Jimenez at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania this fall for the Mountain Hawks inaugural varsity women’s wrestling season, was up 10-2 at the break against UWW athlete Ksenia Kostsenich, but gave up two four-pointers and a stepout to see the bronze medal slip just out of reach.

India won its second gold of the event as 2023 U17 world champion Kajal defeated China’s 2024 U20 world silver medalist Yuqi Liu 8-6 in the gold medal final at 72kg. Kajal built a 6-0, but then got cradled up and nearly pinned in the final minute of the match. Kajal escaped the position and escaped with the gold.

Greco-Roman completed its first two weight classes on Friday night with golds being won by Azerbaijan and a UWW athlete.

At 60kg, Azerbaijan’s Aykhan Javadov rallied from a 5-0 deficit to pull out a thrilling 12-5 victory over Armenia’s Yurik Mkhitaryan. Trailing 5-4 with just under 90 seconds remaining, Javadov was put on top in par terre after a passivity and tossed Mkhitaryan for four from the reverse lift position. He added another four-pointer late to cement the win. It’s Javadov’s second straight world title – he won gold in Amman, Jordan at the U17 worlds last year.

Isaiah Cortez finished ninth for the United States.

At 82kg, UWW athlete Mikhail Shkrabin also made the successful move up to the U20 division after winning a 2024 U17 world title. Shkrabin beat Kazakhstan’s Dias Seitkaliyev 4-1 to claim gold. Shkrabin scored a pair of passivity points and two points from an exposure in the first period.

Arvin Khosravy finished in 11th place for the United States.

2025 U20 World Championships

At Samokov, Bulgaria, August 17-24

Quick Links

• U.S. Greco-Roman athlete bios

• U.S. women's freestyle athlete bios

• Event entry list

• Live stream and archived matches

• Brackets and results

• Photo Galleries

• YouTube Interviews

Women's Freestyle Group 3 Results

50 kg – Audrey Jimenez (Tucson, Ariz./Lehigh Valley Wrestling RTC/Titan Mercury WC)

WIN Adriana Daniseviciute (Lithuania), tech. fall, 10-0

WIN Na Hu (China), tech. fall, 10-0

WIN Diana Rysova (Ukraine), tech. fall, 14-3

LOSS Rinka Ogawa (Japan) 9-3

53 kg – Abbi Cooper (Clayton, Calif./CYC – Concord)

WIN Nikol Aleksandrova (Bulgaria), tech. fall, 10-0

WIN Ekaterina Chikanova (UWW), tech. fall, 10-0

LOSS Natsumi Masuda (Japan), fall, 2:29

LOSS Ksenia Kostsenich (UWW), 11-10

72 kg – Jasmine Robinson (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army WCAP)

WIN Elvira Ersson (Sweden), tech. fall 12-0

WIN Ai Sakai (Japan), fall, :37

WIN Veronika Vilk (Croatia), fall, 1:21

LOSS Kajal (India), dec. 13-6

LOSS Kaiyrkul Sharshebaeva (Kyrgyzstan), injury forfeit

Greco-Roman Group 1 Results

60 kg – Isaiah Cortez (Los Banos, Calif./Gilroy/Daniel Cormier WC)

WIN Kristin Petrov (Bulgaria), fall, 2:31

LOSS Papik Dzhavadian (UWW), dec. 8-5

82 kg – Arvin Khosravy (Woodland Hills, Calif./West Point WC)

WIN Yrisbek Kalyev (Kyrgyzstan) 7-2.

LOSS Seyed Azarshab (Iran) 11-0.