By Richard Immel
USA Wrestling

ZAGREB, Croatia – The U.S. women picked up a couple signature wins during the Wednesday morning session at the 2025 World Championships, with the duo of Macey Kilty and Kylie Welker winning repechage, and three athletes qualifying for the quarterfinal round.

Kilty opened the morning with a second-period pin against 2024 Olympic bronze medalist Grace Bullen of Norway. Up 2-1 entering the second, Kilty went on the attack while Bullen was put on the shot clock. She converted a single leg to the back to stick Bullen in 4:39. Kilty will face Asian silver medalist Enkhjin Tuvshinjargal of Mongolia in the bronze medal match. A win would give Kilty a third Senior-level World medal.

Welker set the tone for Team USA as the first bout of the day on mat A. She looked excellent in a 10-0 technical fall win against two-time age-group World medalist Elmira Yasin of Türkiye. Welker scored three takedowns and two turns to end the match early in the second frame. Her 76 kg bronze medal match opponent is familiar foe Anastasiya Alpyeyeva of Ukraine, who is a five-time age-group World medalist and reigning European champion. Welker defeated Alpyeyeva in the finals of last year’s U23 Worlds, 3-1.

Taking center stage with women’s freestyle group three were Felicity Taylor at 53 kg, Adaugo Nwachukwu at 62 kg, Kennedy Blades at 68 kg and Alexandria Glaude at 72 kg. Nwachukwu, Blades and Glaude each made the quarterfinals before falling, staying in the mix for repechage. Taylor dropped her opener and was eliminated from the tournament.

The big win of the session came early on from Glaude in the round-of-16. She utilized great positioning and mat awareness to take down 2021 World champion and three-time World medalist Masako Furuichi of Japan, 3-2. Glaude went on to drop a close quarterfinal to 2022 U20 World silver medalist Nurzat Nurtaeva of Kyrgyzstan, 8-4.

Blades, a 2024 Olympic silver medalist at 76 kg, exploded in the first round with an 11-0 technical fall against Asian silver medalist Radhika of India. The win set up a primetime showdown versus 2024 World champion Ami Ishii of Japan in the quarterfinals. Unfortunately for the American side, Ishii had Blades’ number in every area, scoring a 12-1 technical fall in one of the more impressive efforts we’ve seen in Zagreb this week.

Nwachukwu, a 2022 U20 World bronze medalist and four-time age-group World Team member, looked strong in two early round wins on Wednesday. She ran into 2017 World champion and two-time Olympian Orkhon Purevdorj of Mongolia in the quarterfinals, coming up short, 5-2.

For a complete match-by-match breakdown of the morning session for Team USA in Zagreb, browse our day five match notes.

The tournament resumes at 4:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday with the women’s freestyle group three (53-62-68-72 kg) semifinals, followed by the women’s freestyle group two (50-57-65-76 kg) medal matches at 6 p.m. Zagreb, Croatia, is in the GMT +2 time zone, which is six hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time. 

The Senior World Championships are streaming live on FloWrestling.com to the U.S. market. Brackets and updated results are available on UWW Arena.

USA Wrestling will provide regular updates on TheMat.com and its social media platforms throughout the event.

2025 Senior World Championships 

At Zagreb, Croatia, September 17 

Quick Links 

Event Hub

Live Stream

Brackets and Results

Women’s Freestyle Results 

Medal Match Pairings (Group Two) 

50 kg 

Gold – Myonggyong Won (North Korea) vs. Yu Zhang (China)

Bronze – Remina Yoshimoto (Japan) vs. Elizaveta Smirnova (Japan)

Bronze – Munkhnar Byambasuren (Mongolia) vs. Evin Demirhan (Turkey)

57 kg 

Gold – Helen Maroulis (United States) vs. Il Sim Son (North Korea)

Bronze – Olga Khoroshavtseva (UWW) vs. Himeka Tokuhara (Japan)

Bronze – Kexin Hong (China) vs. Iryna Kurachkina (UWW)

65 kg 

Gold – Miwa Morikawa (Japan) vs. Alina Kasabieva (UWW)

Bronze – Irina Ringaci (Moldova) vs. Iryna Koliadenko (Ukraine)

Bronze – Enkhjin Tuvshinjargal (Mongolia) vs. Macey Kilty (United States)

76 kg 

Gold – Aiperi Medet Kyzy (Kyrgyzstan) vs. Genesis Reasco Valdez (Ecuador)

Bronze – Anastasiya Alpyeyeva (Ukraine) vs. Kylie Welker (United States)

Bronze – Milaimy Marin Potrille (Cuba) vs. Priya (India)

Semifinal Pairings (Group Three) 

53 kg 

Lucia Yepez Guzman (Ecuador) vs. Antim (India)

Haruna Murayama Okuno (Japan) vs. Hyogyong Choe (North Korea)

62 kg 

Sakura Motoki (Japan) vs. Orkhon Purevdorj (Mongolia)

Ok Ju Kim (North Korea) vs. Amina Tandelova (UWW)

68 kg 

Buse Cavusoglu Tosun (Türkiye) vs. Ami Ishii (Japan)

Yuliana Yaneva (Bulgaria) vs. Jia Long (China)

72 kg 

Nurzat Nurtaeva (Kyrgyzstan) vs. Alla Belinska (Ukraine)

Nesrin Bas (Türkiye) vs. Zelu Li (China)

U.S. Women’s Freestyle Results 

Group Two 

50 kg – Audrey Jimenez (Bethlehem, Pa./Lehigh Valley Wrestling RTC/Titan Mercury WC), Eliminated 

LOSS Emanuela Liuzzi (Italy)

57 kg – Helen Maroulis (Rockville, Md./Titan Mercury WC), Gold Medal Match 

WIN Emine Cakmak (Turkey), fall, 1:01

WIN Himeka Tokuhara (Japan), fall, 2:18

WIN Olga Khoroshavtseva (UWW), fall, 3:11

VS Il Sim Son (North Korea)

65 kg – Macey Kilty (North Liberty, Iowa/Iowa Women’s WC/Titan Mercury WC), Bronze Medal Match 

LOSS Alina Kasabieva (UWW), 6-6

WIN Grace Bullen (Norway), fall, 4:39

VS Enkhjin Tuvshinjargal (Mongolia)

76 kg – Kylie Welker (Iowa City, Iowa/Iowa Women's WC/Titan Mercury WC), Bronze Medal Match 

WIN Vanesa Georgieva (Bulgaria), fall, 4:02

LOSS Aiperi Medet Kyzy (Kyrgyzstan), 8-3

WIN Elmira Yasin (Turkey), tech. fall, 10-0

VS Anastasiya Alpyeyeva (Ukraine)

Group Three 

53 kg – Felicity Taylor (Coralville, Iowa/Big Game WC/Titan Mercury WC), Eliminated 

LOSS Jin Zhang (China), tech. fall, 10-0

62 kg – Adaugo Nwachukwu (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army WCAP), Awaiting Repechage 

WIN Selvi Ilyasoglu (Turkey), 7-3

WIN Johanna Lindborg (Sweden), 13-6

LOSS Orkhon Purevdorj (Mongolia), 5-2

68 kg – Kennedy Blades (Tiffin, Iowa/Hawkeye WC/Titan Mercury WC), Awaiting Repechage 

WIN Radhika (India), tech. fall, 11-0

LOSS Ami Ishii (Japan), tech. fall, 12-1

72 kg – Alexandria Glaude (Menlo Park, Calif./California RTC/Titan Mercury WC), Awaiting Repechage 

WIN Svetlana Oknazarova (Uzbekistan), fall, 3:31

WIN Masako Furuichi (Japan), 3-2

LOSS Nurzat Nurtaeva (Kyrgyzstan), 8-4