Luke Joseph Lilledahl in about against Aiandai Ondar (Photo UWW)
The United States has assembled a star studded team for the U23 World Championships, being held in Las Vegas, Nevada from October 12 to 18.
In Women’s Wrestling, the hosts will parade Morgan Turner, Cristelle Rodriguez, Everest Leydecker, Kylie Welker and Adaugo Nwachukwu, who will be among the favourites.
Their freestyle squad has Bowen Bassett, Jayden James, Luke Lilledahl and Aedeon Sinclair.
Lilledahl will be aiming for a second straight U23 world title at 57kg and will start as the favorite, unless there is a surprise. Among the challengers will be U23 European silver medalist Vasif Baghirov of Azerbaijan and U20 world champion Magomed Ozdarimov of Russia.
For Bassett, who will also compete at the senior World Championships, the U23 event will be the right warm-up. There is no dearth of talent in this weight class, but Bassett’s conditioning and experience make him stand apart.
Former U17 world silver medalist Jaskaran Singh of India will be able to match Bassett’s conditioning, but his lack of experience may work against him. Former U23 world silver medalist Kaiji OGINO (JPN) will also try to upgrade the medal he won in 2023.
U23 European champion Magomedkhan Magamedkhanov of Belarus, U20 world bronze medalist Ahora Khateri of Iran, former U20 world silver medalist Eldar Akhmadudinov of Russia, and Viktor Borohan of Ukraine will also be in the mix.
Two of wrestling’s up-and-coming stars, Mobin Azimi of Iran and Takhir Khaniev of Russia, battled it out in the 92kg final at the 2025 U23 World Championships. In one of the most thrilling finals, Azimi picked up the gold medal by beating Khaniev, 5-3. The two stars are set to face each other again, this time at 97kg.
U23 European champion Khaniev and senior Asian champion Azimi will be joined by several other young stars, including America’s reigning U20 world champion Justin Rademacher, U20 European champion Konstantine Petriashvili of Georgia, U23 European silver medalist Ivan Prymachenko of Ukraine and recent Asian Games silver medalist Sherzod Poyonov of Uzbekistan among others.
Khaniev made headlines this year at the Tirana Ranking Series when he defeated world champion Kyle Snyder of ther USA and will be among the favorites in Las Vegas. Azimi is moving up to 97kg for only the second time in his career but cannot be counted out.
Rademacher and Petriashvili will try to win medals at the U23 level, while Prymachenko and Poyonov also have an outside chance of finishing on the podium.
Russia will be hoping for at least three gold medals from Magomed Eltemirov at 70kg, Magomed Baitukaev at 74kg, and Arsen Balaian at 86kg.
Balaian was one of the most dominant wrestlers at the 2025 U23 World Championships, winning three of his four bouts by technical superiority. He will look to defend his U23 world title at 86kg, a weight class that also includes U20 world champion Aeoden Sinclair of the USA.
Sinclair will try to win his second straight age-group world title, but Sabuhi Amiraslanov of Azerbaijan, who is moving up from 79kg to 86kg, former U17 world champion Reza Afshar of Iran, and Ahmet Yagan of Turkiye will try to stop both Balaian and Sinclair.
Eltemirov finished second at 70kg at the U23 European Championships after dropping the final to Alexandr Gaidarli of Moldova in Zrenjanin. Both are expected to resume their battle in Las Vegas, along with other international stars. Ebrahim Elahi of Iran will be among his biggest challenges, along with U23 Asian champion Maiis Aliyev of Kazakhsatn and Rustamzhan Kakharov of Kyrgyzstan.
In the premier weight class, 74kg, U20 world silver medalist Jayden James of the USA and Magomed Baitukaev of Russia will be among the favorites to win, unless Manuel Wagin of Germany can bring his best game and fitness.
U23 Asian champion Nurdaulet Seilbekov of Kazakhstan will also try to be among the medalists at 74kg. Saba Kobakhidze of Georgia and Ali Karampour of Iran will be in the mix for a podium finish.
At 125kg, it will be difficult to upset defending champion and U20 world champion Abolfazl Mohammad Nezhad of Iran, while at 92kg, Arslan Bagaev of Russia will try to repeat as U23 world champion, a title he won in 2024.
Women’s Wrestling
Everest Lydecker has already won the U20 world title this year and will now attempt a U23 and senior world double. Leydecker is the absolute favorite at 55kg.
Defending champion Shugyla Omirbek pf Kazakhstan will be the toughest test for Leydecker along with silver medalist Tuba Demir of Turkey and U23 European champion Gerda Terek of Hungary.
Others hoping to do the double are Morgan Turner at 50kg. After finishing with a silver medalist at the U20 level, Turner has a good chance to win gold in Las Vegas.
But Haruna Morikawa of Japan, who won gold at 53kg last year, is down to 50kg and will be Turner’s biggest challenge. U23 European champion Aida Kerymova of Ukraine will also be in the mix for a medal.
For former U20 world champion Cristelle Rodriguez of the USA at 53kg, the challenge may come from former U23 world silver medalist Serena di Benedetto of Canada, big-throwing Spaniard Carla Jaume Soler and Nagisa Harada of Japan.
In one of the marquee match-ups of the tournament, U20 world champion Nadiia Sokolovska of Ukraine will likely face off against defending champion Kylie Welker of the USA. It will be upset if the two don’t make it to the final at 76kg.
Others competing for a medal are Lotta Englich of Germany, Diksha Malik of India, Mariia Silina of Russia and Elmira Yasin of Turkiye.
Ray Hoshino of Japan, a former U20 world champion, will start as the favorite at 68kg. U23 European champion Kseniya Tsiarenia of Belarus, Mansi Lather of India, Alina Shevchenko of Russia are among the challengers.
Iryna Bondar of Ukraine has been out of action since finishing second at 2025 U23 World Championships but she will return in Novi Sad with hopes of winning the gold she missed last year. But a big test will be Hiyori Motoki of Japan, the sister of Olympic champion Sakura Motoki.
Zhu Yifan of China, the U23 Asian champion, is another contender at this weight class and so is former U23 world champion Eniko Elekes of Hungary. Adaugo Nwachukwu of the USA will also hope to navigate the field if she wants to win medals at both U23 and senior World Championships.
She has won multiple age-group world medals but U23 European champion Hiunai Hurbanova of Azerbaijan has the best chance to win the world title at 59kg in Las Vegas. But the competition will come from former U20 world champion Marta Hetmanava of Belarus, 2025 U20 world champion Yangzhen of China, senior Asian medalist Laylokhon Sobirova of Uzbekistan, senior European medalist Alina Filipovych of Ukraine and Alexis Janiak of the USA.
