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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 fans 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 prevalent on the US men’s freestyle team. Only two of the ten world teamers have competed at a Senior World Championship event (and a third was in the Olympics). 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 have the eight seeded wrestlers at each weight, along with past world/Olympic medalists, and other threats at the weight. Along with some analysis about our representatives, the medal prospects, and potential hazards. 57 kg - Spencer Lee Seeds: #1 Spencer Lee (USA) #2 Gulomjon Abdullaev (UZB) #3 Aman Sehrawat (IND) #4 Roman Bravo Young (MEX) #5 Darian Cruz (PUR) #6 Bekzat Almaz Uulu (KGZ) #7 Islam Bazarganov (AZE) #8 Munkh Erdene Batkhuyag (MGL) Past Senior World/Olympic medalists: Abdullaev: 2024 Olympic bronze Sehrawat: 2024 Olympic bronze Arsen Harutyunyan (ARM): 3x World bronze Others Ali Momeni (IRI) 2024 U23 bronze Rin Sakamoto (JPN) Chongsong Han (PRK) 2025 Asian champion Azamat Tuskaev (SRB) 2025 European silver Musa Mekhtikhanov (UWW - Russia) There’s a lot of inexperience from a Senior World standpoint on the US men’s freestyle team in 2025. Technically, Spencer Lee is a first-time world team member; however, he does have an Olympic silver medal on his resume, so I don’t think he’ll be in awe on the big stage. This could be Lee’s best shot at a world title. Most of the seeded wrestlers are from the 2024 Olympic bracket. The opponents that Lee defeated in the quarterfinals and semis have the sixth and second seeds, respectively. He also has wins over the fourth and seventh seeds earlier this year at the Zagreb Open. Should seeds hold, Lee could have a semifinal matchup against NCAA champions Darian Cruz and Roman Bravo-Young. I could see his biggest challenges come from wrestlers who are not seeded. The North Korean’s are always intriguing and mysterious. They don’t compete at many events, but when they do, they’re usually a threat. Han emerged from a tough bracket to win the Asian title this year, but was beaten by Abdullaev at the Olympic qualifier. Tuskaev is a Russian transfer who made the gold medal match in Europe this year. Mekhtikhanov doesn’t have much of an international track record, but he won Russian Nationals this year, so he’ll be a gold medal contender. 61 kg - Jax Forrest Seeds: #1 Zavur Uguev (UWW - Russia) #2 Giorgi Goniashvili (GEO) #3 Takara Suda (JPN) #4 Udit Kumar (IND) #5 Leomid Colesnic (MDA) #6 Dzmitry Shamela (UWW - Belarus) #7 Nils Leutert (SUI) #8 Joshua Kramer (ECU) Past Senior World/Olympic medalists: Uguev: 2021 Olympic gold, 2x World champion Zelimkhan Abakarov (ALB): 2022 World champion, 2x World medalist Tairybek Zhumashbek Uulu (KGZ): 2023 World bronze Tuvshintulga Tumenbileg (MGL): 2018 World bronze Others Suda (JPN) 2025 Asian champion Kumar (IND) 2x Asian silver Manvel Khndzrtsyan (ARM) U23 silver Kamil Kerimov (UKR) U23 bronze One of the shockers of the Final X/World Team processes was high school senior Jax Forrest knocking off two-time Senior world medalist Vito Arujau at 61 kg. Had Arujau been in this spot, we would have hailed him as a world championship contender or favorite. Does Forrest automatically take over this mantle as he downed Arujau to make the team? That’s the big question. And this weight class is very tough. A couple of years ago, Uguev was one of the best pound-for-pound wrestlers in the world. Last year, he made the move up to 61 kg and lost to Arujau in a bronze medal match. He’ll come into the world championships fresh off a European title. Even though Masanosuke Ono is at Penn State and did not participate in the process to make the Japanese team, they still will have a medal contender here. Suda won an Asian title and two ranking series events in 2025. We’ll have to see how the brackets are drawn at this weight. There are three past world medalists who will not be seeded. As far as seeds go, there will be one favorite on each side of the bracket Uguev/Suda, but drawing in the others could lead to one side that’s much tougher than the other. As for Forrest, he’s passed every test along the way thus far. Not only did he beat Arujau, but he also won the US Open - tallying wins via tech over World fifth-place finisher Seth Gross and Final X winner Nahshon Garrett. It’s a lot to expect a wrestler of Forrest’s age to come home with a medal (or title), but it’s hard to doubt the kid. Additionally, his style and scrambling ability is one that will play well on the world stage. 65 kg - Real Woods Seeds: #1 Rahman Amouzad (IRI) #2 Kotaro Kiyooka (JPN) #3 Vazgen Tevanyan (ARM) #4 Ali Rahimzada (AZE) #5 Khamzat Arsamerzouev (FRA) #6 Sebastian Rivera (PUR) #7 Ibragim Ibragimov (UWW - Russia) #8 Sujeet Kalkal (IND) Past Senior World/Olympic medalists: Amouzad: 2024 Olympic silver, 2022 World silver Kiyooka: 2024 Olympic gold Tevanyan: 2023 World bronze Rivera: 2024 Olympic bronze, 2023 World silver Abdulmazhid Kudiev (TJK): 2024 World bronze Others Rahimzada: 2x European bronze Arsamerzouev: 2025 European silver Ibragimov: 2x U23 World champion Kalkal: U23 bronze Nachyn Kuular (KAZ): 2017 U23 champion Umidjon Jalolov (UZB): 2022 U20 champion Domestically, 65 kg seemed like it would be a weight that was tough to predict and it played out that way during the Trials process. Real Woods took fourth place at the US Open, but fought back through the World Team Trials and Final X to earn his spot on the World Team. After surviving some close calls at the Trials, Woods swept the US Open champion, Joey McKenna, at Final X. Woods was last seen picking up a win via fall over Darrion Caldwell at RAF 01 just over a week ago. Recent history shows that 65/66 kg has been a difficult weight for the United States to medal at over the last 20 years, despite having some talented and capable wrestlers in that range. Once again, it will be an uphill battle for the American to medal. That isn’t a slight on Woods, just based on the strength and depth at this weight. Three of the four Olympic medalists from a year ago are back, including both finalists. Five wrestlers in this bracket have won Senior/Olympic medals at one point or another in their careers and most of them are recent. These are generally wrestlers in the prime of their careers. Outside of the top couple of seeds and the Senior medalists, another contender should come from the seventh seed, Ibragimov. This will be his first Senior World team appearance, but he has a pair of U23 World titles to his name. The bottom half of this bracket is shaping up to be loaded - even without the unseeded wrestlers drawn in. There is already Kiyooka, Tevanyan, Rivera, and Ibragimov. At least two of them won’t medal in 2025! As an American fan, you have to like the fact that our representative is one who has thrived when the odds are stacked against him and doesn’t back down from a fight. However, the bracket shakes out here, Woods will be in for a battle in every single match. 70 kg - PJ Duke Seeds: #1 Yoshinosuke Aoyagi (JPN) #2 Akaki Kemertelidze (GEO) #3 Nurkozha Kaipanov (KAZ) #4 Kanan Heybatov (AZE) #5 Arman Andreasyan (ARM) #6 Austin Gomez (MEX) #7 Vasile Diacon (MDA) #8 Iszmail Muszukjev (HUN) Past Senior World/Olympic medalists: Aoyagi: 2024 World silver Kaipanov: 2024 World champion, 2x World medalist Andreasyan: 2023 World bronze Muszukjev: 2023 World champion, 3x World medalist Islam Dudaev (ALB): 2024 Olympic bronze Amir Yazdani (IRI): 2x World silver Ernazar Akmataliev (KGZ): 2x World medalist Tulga Tumur Ochir (MGL) - 2021 World bronze Others Heybatov: 2x U23 bronze medalist Another surprise team member for the US was PJ Duke, who won an epic three-match series over Yianni Diakomihalis just a few days before he graduated from high school. Since then, Duke traveled to Bulgaria and was front-and-center on a U20 team that was perhaps the best in American history. He claimed a U20 world title and came away from the tournament with hardware for the second straight year. Like Forrest, is it reasonable to expect a wrestler of Duke’s age to come in and win medals on the Senior level? Even though he unseated a past world medalist to make the team? Despite the dominance against Diakomihalis, Duke did have to win three close bouts at the World Team Trials just to get a shot in Final X. You can interpret those results to mean that Duke has improved at a rapid pace and that he is battle-tested in close bout, a trait he’ll need to be successful in Croatia. Whoever is our representative at 70 kg was going to have his hands full in a loaded bracket. Eight past World/Olympic medalists are scattered around the entries. The top half could feature a quarterfinals with returning world silver medalist Aoyagi against world champion Muszukjev. The winner could have the reigning world champion. And that’s before any unseeded wrestlers are included. The number of past world/Olympic medalists might be slightly misleading, as Akmataliev and Tumur Ochir’s medals have come a few years back now. They are high-quality opponents, but perhaps, slightly past their primes. Similar to Forrest, Duke isn’t in this spot by accident. He was the number one overall recruit in a top-heavy Class of 2025. U20 world champions can be medal threats in the same year at the Senior level. Even though this is a loaded weight, Duke won’t take a back seat to anyone. 74 kg - David Carr Seeds: #1 Chermen Valiev (ALB) #2 Taimuraz Salkazanov (SVK) #3 Yones Emami (IRI) #4 Orozobek Toktomambetov (KGZ) #5 Murad Kurmagomedov (HUN) #6 Giorgi Elbakidze (GEO) #7 Magomedrasul Asluev (BRN) #8 Feng Lu (CHN) Past Senior World/Olympic medalists: Valiev: 2024 Olympic bronze Salkazanov: 3x World bronze Emami: 2x World bronze Ramazan Ramazanov (BUL): 2023 World bronze Soner Demirtas (TUR): 2016 Olympic bronze, 2017 World bronze Zaurbek Sidakov (UWW - Russia) - 2020 Olympic gold, 3x World champion Others Toktomambetov: 2025 Asian silver Elbakidze: 2022 U23 champion Feng Lu (CHN): 2024 U23 silver Kota Takahashi (JPN): 2024 U23 World champion, 2x U23 medalist We’ve said it a few times in the lead-up to the Open and Final X, but this will be the first time that we’ve had someone not named Jordan Burroughs or Kyle Dake at 74 kg on the world or Olympic team since 2010. A couple of our earlier team members were surprise winners; however, David Carr represents the natural evolution and changing of the guard we see in our sport. He represents the next generation as we’ve come to understand it in wrestling - have a successful college career, take a year or two to focus on freestyle and make a team. Like the others on this team, Carr has had great success at the age group level. He was a U20 world champion in 2019 and a U17 bronze medalist in 2017. In order to make the 2025 squad, Carr had to reverse a result from the US Open finals, where he was crushed by Mitchell Mesenbrink. He responded with two tight wins over the Penn State national champion. 74 kg is always a tough weight and this year is no exception. Look no further than the favorite, World/Olympic champion Zaurbek Sidakov. He’ll be a favorite at every tournament he enters until proven otherwise. Aside from Sidakov, Salkazanov is always a threat and in the medal hunt. Valiev is a Russian transfer and an Olympic medalist. Takahashi could be the next great Japanese middleweight star. During the 14-year run with Burroughs/Dake atop the 74 kg weight class, there was only one year in which they did not come home from the World/Olympic tournament without a medal (2016). Carr has the goods to keep this streak intact. You’d love to see him get a good draw, but at the same time, he should be able to compete with (and beat) just about everyone at this weight.