Photo: Kaela Belingon / Wrestlers Are Warriors

The 2026 U23 World Championships wrapped up Sunday at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, and Team USA leaves with 10 medals: three gold, three silver and four bronze. The women finished 2nd in the team race, the men 3rd. Here's the full story of the week.

By the Numbers

Men's Freestyle: Davino Strikes Gold

Ben Davino (61kg, Ohio State) was the best American in the tournament. He beat Iran's Ebrahim Khari 7-1, teched Japan's Akito Mukaida 11-0 and Oregon State's Gabe Whisenhunt (wrestling for Romania) 10-0, then pinned Kyrgyzstan's Iukhan Dokturbek Uulu right at the buzzer while leading 4-1. That's 32-2 on the scoreboard for the 2026 NCAA runner-up, and it gave the U.S. back-to-back World titles at 61kg after Aaron Seidel's U20 gold in August.

Jayden James (74kg, Penn State) took silver. The Penn State freshman pinned two opponents on his way to the final, including Iran's Ali Karampour in the semis, before falling 5-3 to Russia's Magomed Baitukaev. It's his second World silver in two months.

Justin Rademacher (97kg, Oregon State) also took silver. He shut out Belarus 4-0, won a 10-9 thriller over Ukraine and beat Georgia 5-1 in the semis before dropping a 9-7 final to Russia's Mukhamed Khaniev, who beat Kyle Snyder 10-4 at the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series in February.

Coby Merrill (125kg, Iowa State) won bronze the hard way. After a quarterfinal loss, he was pulled into repechage and teched his way to the podium, finishing with three tech falls in four matches.

Luke Lilledahl (57kg, Penn State), the defending champion, was upset 3-1 in the Round of 16 but battled back through repechage with a 5-0 win before finishing 5th. Seth Shumate (92kg) placed 8th, Bo Bassett (65kg) and Jordan Williams (70kg) were 9th, Aeoden Sinclair (86kg) 14th and Joe Sealey (79kg) 26th.

The U.S. came in as the defending men's freestyle team champion. Iran (180) reclaimed the title ahead of Russia (171), and the Americans' 104 points were good for 3rd.

Women's Freestyle: Six Medals, Two World Champions

Kylie Welker (76kg, Iowa) won her third straight U23 World title, something FloWrestling noted no American woman had done before. She didn't give up a point on the way, finishing with a 10-0 tech in 47 seconds in the final. Cristelle Rodriguez-Dobler (53kg, Doane) won the other gold, pinning Turkey's Sevval Cayir in 55 seconds in the final for her second World title after U20 gold in 2024.

Adaugo Nwachukwu (62kg, William Penn) teched her first three opponents on the way to silver. Bronzes went to Morgan Turner (50kg), the only high schooler on the U.S. roster, and Iowa's Everest Leydecker (55kg) and Reese Larramendy (65kg). That's three medals for Iowa's women's program. The U.S. women went 22-8 and finished 2nd as a team behind Ukraine.

Greco-Roman: A Tough Week

Greco opened the tournament and finished 11-10 without a medal. Michael Altomer (87kg) and Aden Attao (130kg) made the quarterfinals, Attao with two pins, and Brett Back (72kg) pinned Japan's Rintaro Sogabe in 1:46.

Other Flags: College Wrestlers Abroad

Twenty-five U.S. college wrestlers competed for other countries in Las Vegas. Oregon State's Gabe Whisenhunt (Romania) reached the 61kg semifinals and finished 5th, as did Nebraska's Chris Minto (Jamaica), who won two straight in repechage at 79kg to wrestle for bronze. North Carolina freshman Dunia Sibomana (Democratic Republic of the Congo) teched his way into the 57kg quarterfinals.

Up Next: Senior Worlds

The Senior World Championships run October 24 through November 1 in Astana, Kazakhstan, with Bo Bassett (65kg) and Marcus Blaze (61kg, October 30-31) among the Americans in action. Follow every American live on our Team USA Senior Worlds tracker, and relive the week in Las Vegas on our U23 Worlds tracker.

Tune In Monday on Basch & The Brain

Willie and I will recap U23 Worlds and dive into our biggest takeaways from the week on Monday at 9 AM ET. Watch live on YouTube and subscribe so you don't miss it.