Women’s freestyle kicks off Wednesday at the U20 World Championships in Amman, Jordan, where a star-studded American squad aims to challenge perennial power Japan in the team race. Here’s a look at five of the top storylines to follow: 

Katie Gomez Will Face The Gauntlet At 53 KG

Katie Gomez has had an excellent season so far, making a U20 World Team, winning the U.S. Open and wrestling at Final X despite being only 19 years old. Most recently, she also picked up a win over three-time World medalist Maria Prevolaraki at the Grand Prix of Spain. After taking third at last year’s rendition of this event, she’ll be a surefire contender for the top of the podium. 

But 53 kilos is inarguably the deepest weight in Jordan — perhaps across all styles. 

Last year’s finalists Antim of India and Altyn Shagaeva of Kazakhstan (who beat Gomez last year) are both in the field. 2019 U17 World Champion Nagisa Harada is Japan’s rep in a weight they’ve traditionally dominated. Reigning Asian Champion Lixuan Chen of China and two-time World finalist Mihaela Samoil of Moldova round out this stacked field. 

One of the athletes fans should keep a special eye on is Mariia Yefremova of Ukraine, a two-time U17 World Champion who has never lost a major international tournament. Yefremova is only 18 but is amongst the best technicians in this age group. It’s tough to predict who will come out on top of this deep category, but Gomez certainly has the experience necessary to perform successfully here. 

United States Owns The Upper Weights 

When it comes to the upper women’s weight classes, the United States is truly in an echelon of its own. Success ranges from the U17 level (where Piper Fowler most recently won a World title) to the Seniors, where names like Adeline Gray and Tamyra Mensah-Stock have dominated. This U20 Worlds will feature the next generation of American stars and one of the best one-two punches in all of sport: Amit Elor at 72 kg and Kennedy Blades at 76 kg. 

Both should be considered heavy favorites to win their respective weights. Elor has already proved she’s the best in the world amongst all ages, and Blades has looked fantastic in all her Senior-level appearances (though we didn’t get to see her on the age-level scene last year). Blades’ toughest competitor will likely be returning U20 World Champion Ayano Moro of Japan. However, based on the skills she’s shown domestically, expect her to be more than capable of dispatching Moro on her quest for gold. 

Russia And Belarus Return

Russia’s international presence has been hampered over the past few years due to COVID and the war in Ukraine, but its U20 team will be back in action in Amman. This has major implications for the team race: Russia has placed second in the last four U20 World Championships it competed in (2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021). 

A name to watch is Polina Lukina, who recently won Russian Nationals at 50 kg. She had solid international results as a U17 athlete and even placed second at the 2022 Yasar Dogu Ranking Series, notching significant wins along the way. At 53 kilos, she’ll be the leader of the Russian squad along with fellow past U20 World Medalist Elizaveta Petliakova at 68 kg. 

Not to be forgotten is Belarus, who has five previous World medalists on its squad, including 2021 U20 World Champ Alesia Hetmanava (59 kg) and silver medalist Aryna Martynava (55 kg), as well as this year’s U17 World finalist Sviatlana Katenka (50 kg). 

Can USA Push Japan?

Last year, Japan’s U20 team had one of the most dominant team performances in wrestling ever with EIGHT World champions and two bronze medalists. The depth and star power Japan possesses is almost unfathomable. However, with some key members of the team missing (namely Senior World champions Akari Fujinami and Nonoka Ozaki) and much of their team from last year aging out from U20, some new faces are set to make their international debuts. 

Leading the team is Moe Kiyooka, who won both U20 and U23 Worlds last year at 55 kg. Other previous age-level World champions include Nagisa Harada at 53 kg and Ayano Moro at 76 kg. Suzu Sasaki is the only other Japanese woman to previously compete at a World Championship. With this team’s relative inexperience to other Japanese squads, America’s women have an opportunity to push even closer to their second U20 World team title (the first being in 2021).

Trending Upward  

With the explosion of women’s wrestling domestically, it can be easy to forget just how much the United States has grown in terms of international women’s freestyle success. While our past two U20 World teams have brought home ample medals — five in 2021 and six in 2022 — our pre-COVID results weren’t as impressive. In 2018 and 2019, our sole U20 World medalist was Macey Kilty, and our average number of World medals from 2011-2017 was just 2.4. 

While there’s still lots of work to be done, American women’s wrestling has improved leaps and bounds and will only continue to grow.n