Women's Freestyle Takeaways From The 2025 Worlds
Women's Freestyle Takeaways From The 2025 Worlds
The 2025 Women’s Freestyle World Championships are over. Here is what we learned.
The 2025 Women’s Freestyle World Championships are over. Here is what we learned.
Click here for every U.S. women's freestyle World & Olympic gold medal run.
Click here for every U.S. women's freestyle World & Olympic Teamer.
Helen Is Golden Again
Just two days before her 34th birthday, Helen Maroulis secured her fifth World/Olympic title with a dramatic win in the closing seconds of her 57-kg gold medal match. The former Simon Fraser star notched a 3-2 win over Il Sim Son of North Korea after three consecutive falls. This was Maroulis’ 11th World/Olympic medal.
USA Finishes Fourth, Or Fifth
The United States technically finished fourth overall in the team standings, but if you count Russia, the Americans were fifth behind Japan, North Korea, Russia, and China. Russia and Belarus compete under the UWW banner following the invasion of Ukraine.
Team USA had 83 points on the strength of one gold (Maroulis) and two bronze medals (Kennedy Blades and Kylie Welker). This was the first time since 2010 the US women finished outside the top three.
Click here for a team scoring breakdown.
Click here for results and links to matches.
Team USA Breakdown
Japan Is Really Good, And So Is North Korea
Japan won the team title despite the absence of some of its biggest stars, scoring 162 points thanks to five golds and a bronze. Japan has won every World title since 2012, and 28 of 35 since the first women’s freestyle World Championships in 1987.
North Korea sent only seven wrestlers to the World Championships, scoring 115 points, with two gold, two silver, and a bronze medal to finish second. Il Sim Son (57 kg) and Ok Ju Kim (62 kg) had leads with less than five seconds left in their gold medal matches, but each gave up two late points and had to settle for silver.
Japan and North Korea combined to win seven of 10 gold medals. The United States (Maroulis), Ukraine (Alla Belinska at 72 kg), and Ecuador (Genesis Reasco Valdez at 76 kg) each had a champion. Valdez is Ecuador’s first World champion.
Final Top 10 Team Standings (including Russia)
1. Japan - 162
2. North Korea - 115
3. Russia - 95
4. China - 87
5. United States - 83
6. Ukraine - 75
7. Türkiye - 67
8. Mongolia - 65
9. Ecuador - 47
10. India - 35
10. Kyrgyzstan - 35