Black Earns Bronze; Three Women Advance to U23 World Finals

It was another quality day for the American squad at the 2025 U23 World Championships in Novi Sad, Serbia. The Greco-Roman team picked up a second medal in the event and all three women who competed advanced to a gold medal final on Thursday. In addition, the final two Greco wrestlers to take the mat are both in the medal hunt tomorrow.

The bronze medalist for the Greco team was Otto Black at 67 kg. Black won a repechage bout, 8-6, over Kazakhstan’s Bagdat Sabaz and then received a forfeit in the bronze medal match. In his repechage match, Black started off the scoring with a four-point throw from a body lock at the edge of the mat and was in control for the remainder of the bout.

Otto’s brother, Max, earned three wins on the day and advanced to the 60 kg semifinals. Japan’s Koto Gomi teched Max to move onto the gold medal match. Max drops down to a bronze medal matchup and his opponent will be determined in tomorrow’s repechage.

The final member of the Greco team, Beka Melelashvili, is also alive in repechage. He posted a 10-7 win over Uzbekistan’s Samandar Bobonazarov before falling to Ukraine’s Ruslan Abdiiev by a 2-1 margin in the quarters. When Abdiiev made the finals, he was pulled into repechage. There will be another repechage match to determine Melelashvili’s opponent. He’ll need to win two matches tomorrow to earn a bronze medal.

The three American women whose tournaments started on Wednesday have already clinched a medal and will only need one more win to make it a gold one.

At 50 kg, Audrey Jimenez clinched her sixth career age-group world medal. She scored twice in the second period to win 5-2 over Ukraine’s Aida Kerymova in the semifinals. She’ll square off with China’s Jinyue Liang for the gold medal.

Jasmine Robinson stormed through the 72 kg bracket to earn her finals berth. Robinson had two first-period falls before a 10-0 tech against Croatia’s Veronika Vilk in the semifinals. For the gold medal, Robinson will have to contend with Kyrgyzstan’s Nurzat Nurtaeva, a 2025 Senior World bronze medalist in the finals.

Finally, Kylie Welker racked up the points en route to another world medal for the 76 kg superstar. In three matches, Welker outscored her opponents 37-6. Her first two matches did not last longer than a minute. She’ll face Russia’s Valeriia Trifonova in the gold medal match. Welker is shooting for her second-straight U23 world title and her third medal overall at this event.