We’re less than a week away from the 2025 Senior World Championships. The World Championships are where wrestlers can immortalize themselves in USA Wrestling lore. The Olympics are more prestigious from a general sports fan's perspective; however, the World Championship brackets are much bigger and feature many more threats, and most are wrestling at their ideal weights.
Typically, the year after an Olympic Games is a transition year for the World Championships. Wrestlers might highlight the Olympics as a retirement date, win or lose. With ten weights, opposed to six at the Olympics, we might see wrestlers move up or down in weight to compete at a non-Olympic weight that suits their bodies more appropriately. Some are beaten down by the pursuit of the Olympics and take a year off. All of these situations open the door for new faces to shine.
New faces are common on the US women’s freestyle team. Five of the ten world teamers have not competed at a Senior World Championship event. That isn’t to say it will be a down year. We just have a lot of wrestlers that haven’t gotten the opportunity to shine yet at the Senior World level. Most have earned international medals at the age-group level. Now, it’s their time to take the next step.
In our preview, we feature the eight seeded wrestlers at each weight, along with past world/Olympic medalists, as well as other notable threats at the weight. Along with some analysis about our representatives, the medal prospects, and potential hazards.
For our men’s freestyle previews: Part One and Part Two
50 kg - Audrey Jimenez
Seeds
#1 Oksana Livach (UKR)
#2 Evin Demirhan (TUR)
#3 Gabija Dilyte (LTU)
#4 Madison Parks (CAN)
#5 Svetlana Ankicheva (KAZ)
#6 Munkhnar Byambasuren (MGL)
#7 Audrey Jimenez (USA)
#8 Remina Yoshimoto (JPN)
Past Senior World/Olympic medalists:
Demirhan: 2017 World bronze
Livach: 2018 World bronze
Yoshimoto: 2021 World champion
Others
Ankush (IND): 2x Asian U20 champion
Natalya Varakina (UWW - Belarus): 2025 European bronze
Myong-Gyong Won (PRK): 2025 Asian bronze
Yu Zhang (CHN): 2025 Asian Silver, 2024 U20 World champion
We’ll have a changing of the guard at 50 kg as Audrey Jimenez makes her first Senior World Team appearance. Previously, Sarah Hildebrandt had made every world/Olympic team at this weight since 2021. Jimenez should be up for the task. She is a three-time U20 world silver medalist and a one-time U23 silver medalist.
During three of the four times that Jimenez made the world finals, it was an opponent from Japan who defeated her in the finals. Japan’s Remina Yoshimoto should be one of the key contenders here. With the 2021 world champion as the eighth seed, Jimenez wouldn’t see her until the finals.
It seems like the bulk of the other contenders at this weight will be coming in unseeded. Yu Zhang is a young star who made the Asian finals earlier this year. North Korean lightweights are always tough so, I’d keep an eye on Myong-Gyong Won.
53 kg - Felicity Taylor
Seeds
#1 Lucia Yepez Guzman (ECU)
#2 Hyogyong Choe (PRK)
#3 Zeynep Yetgil (TUR)
#4 Antim Panghal (IND)
#5 Natalia Malysheva (UWW - Russia)
#6 Annika Wendle (GER)
#7 Maria Prevolaraki (GRE)
#8 Jonna Malmgren (SWE)
Past Senior World/Olympic medalists:
Choe: 2024 Olympic bronze, 2025 Asian champion
Haruna Okuno (JPN): 3x World champion
Panghal: 2023 World bronze
Prevolaraki: 3x World bronze
Yepez Guzman: 2024 Olympic silver, 2023 World bronze
Roksana Zasina (POL): 2017 World bronze
Jin Zhang: 2024 World silver
Others
Liliia Malanchuk (UKR): 2023 U23 World bronze
Malmgren: 2024 U23 World champion
Malysheva: 2025 European bronze
As we go up in weights, we have another first-time Senior world team member, Felicity Taylor. Taylor previously advanced to Final X, but broke through this year with her win over former Iowa teammate Brianna Gonzales. In 2024, Taylor defeated Gonzales in the NCWWC national finals to capture her second collegiate national title. Though this is her first Senior World Championship tournament, Taylor does have plenty of experience internationally. She made a pair of U23 world teams and wrestled in a bronze medal match back in 2022.
53 kg is shaping up to be one of the deepest women’s weights in 2025. Like many weights, the Japanese representative has to be the favorite. Haruna Okuno fits that bill as a three-time world champion. There are also two 2024 Olympic medalists in the bracket (Choe, Yepez Guzman). Altogether, there are seven women with past world/Olympic medals. And that doesn’t include the reigning U23 world champion (Malmgren).
Bracketing could be weird here. Okuno, like Taylor, is not seeded. At this point, I don’t know that one side of the bracket is much different than the other, but we’ll re-evaluate after they are drawn.
55 kg - Cristelle Rodriguez
Seeds
#1 Tatiana Debien (FRA)
#2 Oleksandra Khomenets (UKR)
#3 Karla Godinez-Gonzalez (CAN)
#4 Ekaterina Verbina (UWW - Russia)
#5 Elvira Kamaloglu (TUR)
#6 Kyong Ryong Oh (PRK)
#7 Amory Andrich (GER)
#8 Cristelle Rodriguez (USA)
Past Senior World/Olympic medalists:
Debien: 2024 World bronze
Godinez-Gonzalez: 2022 World bronze
Khomenets: 2x World medalist
Others
Khulan Batkhuyag (MGL): 2022 World silver
Xuejing Liang (CHN): 2023 U20 World bronze
Oh: 2025 Asian champion
Rodriguez: 2024 U20 World champion
Sowaka Uchida (JPN): 2024 U20 World champion
Verbina: 2025 European champion, 2021 U23 World silver
Of our first five weights, this is the last one with a first-time world team member. Like the two before her, Cristelle Rodriguez is making her Senior World debut; however, she has plenty of age group experience. Rodriguez is a two-time U20 world team member and claimed a gold medal in her second trip (2024). She also earned a silver medal in 2019 at the Cadet World Championships. To secure her spot on the 2025 squad, Rodriguez held off phenom and future U20 world champion Everest Leydecker in two straight bouts at Final X.
This will be one of the smaller brackets on the women’s freestyle side. At first glance, seeing Cristelle Rodriguez as the eighth see - it might give you some pause. I actually like it. Though top seeded Tatiana Debien is a returning world medalist, I think she’s beatable. The fourth (Verbina) and fifth (Kamaloglu) are high quality, but also not out of Rodriguez’s league. We’ll have to pay attention to where U20 world champion Uchida (Japan), Batkhuyag (Mongolia), and Liang (China) are drawn in. They will be tough. The other half of the bracket is probably deeper with Khomenets, Godinez-Gonzalez, and Oh.
57 kg - Helen Maroulis
Seeds
#1 Helen Maroulis (USA)
#2 Kexin Hong (CHN)
#3 Luisa Valverde (ECU)
#4 Olga Khoroshavtseva (UWW - Russia)
#5 Tamara Dollak (HUN)
#6 Bolortuya Khurelkhuu (MGL)
#7 Youngjin Kwon (KOR)
#8 Zhala Aliyeva (AZE)
Past Senior World/Olympic medalists:
Hong: 2024 Olympic bronze
Iryna Kurachkina (UWW - Belarus): 2021 Olympic silver, 3x World medalist
Maroulis: 3x Olympic medalist (Gold, Bronze x2), 3x World champion
Samantha Stewart: 2021 World bronze
Others
Laura Almaganbetova (KAZ): 2024 Asian bronze
Khoroshavtseva: 3x European champion
Il-Sim Son (PRK): 2025 Asian silver
Tapsya (IND): 2025 U20 World champion
Himeka Tokuhara (JPN): 2x U23 World medalist
Solomiia Vynnyk (UKR): 2024 U23 World champion
The queen is back at the World Championships again and holds the top seed. Helen Maroulis will wrestle at the World Championships for the 12th time(!) in 2025. Her first Senior world appearance came in 2008. Maroulis is now the only American woman with three Olympic medals and the first to win gold. In Croatia, she’ll seek her eighth world medal and the fourth of a golden variety.
Maroulis locked up her latest world team spot by pinning Amanda Martinez twice at Final X. She was the only wrestler (male or female) at the event to win via fall and she did it twice. Maroulis’ bronze medal from the 2024 Olympic Games, coupled with a win at the Hungarian Ranking Series event, helped her receive the #1 seed.
For the last three World/Olympic events, Maroulis has been in the same weight class as Japan’s Sakurai. They have a new representative this year - Tokuhara, a U23 world champion in 2022 and a U23 bronze medalist in 2024.
Just looking at seeds alone, you have to like Maroulis’ draw. None of the past World/Olympic medalists are on her side. That could change depending on where Kurachkina (Belarus) is placed.
Aside from Tokuhara and Kurchkina, perhaps Son (North Korea) and Tapsya (India) represent the most significant challenges for Maroulis in Zagreb.
59 kg - Jacarra Winchester
Seeds
#1 Elena Brugger (GER)
#2 Erika Bognar (HUN)
#3 Laurence Beauregard (CAN)
#4 Anastasiia Sidelnikova (UWW - Russia)
#5 Sakura Onishi (JPN)
#6 Bediha Gun (TUR)
#7 Jumoke Adekoye (NGR)
#8 Altjin Togtokh (MGL)
Past Senior World/Olympic medalists:
Brugger: 2024 World bronze
Winchester: 2019 World champion, 2x World medalist
Others
Pyol Hong (PRK): 2025 Asian silver
Hong Liang (CHN): 2024 U23 bronze
Sakura Onishi (JPN): 2x U20 World champion
We’ll marvel at Maroulis’ longevity, and it’s true; however, don’t sleep on Jacarra Winchester’s career. Winchester will compete at the World Championships for a sixth time, and that doesn’t include her 2021 Olympic appearance. Back in 2019, Winchester captured a world title at 55 kg. She earned a second world medal in 2023, when she made the 55 kg world finals. We’ll see if Winchester can add to her medal haul in Croatia.
Winchester took quite the unusual route to her latest world team. She made the finals of the US Open at 57 kg, but did not wrestle. At the World Team Trials, Winchester bumped up to 59 kg and got the win. That set up a clash with former world team member, Abby Nette. Nette took the first match of the series, 6-4, but Winchester stormed back with two consecutive wins - the first was 9-7 and then 11-0 in the clincher.
59 kg looks to be a relatively wide open weight. Looking at the Japanese entry, we’ll have a new face to watch on the Senior level, as Onishi gets the call. She is a two-time U20 champion. Her most recent title came a few months ago and she downed American Aubre Krazer on her path to the gold medal. She’s the next big thing at this weight, but is she there right now?
Top-seeded Elena Brugger is a returning world medalist and will be in the hunt for gold. Other contenders include Hong (North Korea) and Liang (China). Since Winchester will be unseeded, we’ll have to weight to see what her exact path looks like.