Nwachukwu wins first gold medal for U.S. at world championships

American Adaugo Nwachukwu won the world championship at 62 kilograms on Thursday night with a shootout win over defending world champion Nonoka Ozaki of Japan on Thursday night in Kazakhstan. (Tony Rotundo photo courtesy of USA Wrestling

Courtesy USA Wrestling

ASTANA, Kazakhstan, Oct. 29, 2026 – With a stunning performance in the gold medal round on Thursday night, Adaugo Nwachukwu became the first American to top the podium at the 2026 Senior world championships.

Nwachukwu delivered one of the all-time U.S. finals performances, defeating two-time world champion and Olympic bronze medalist Nonoka Ozaki of Japan in a 12-11 shootout. Nwachukwu had things in control at the period break, up 5-0.

The second period was a different story, as both wrestlers traded haymakers until the final whistle. Ozaki took her first lead with 13 seconds left on the clock. Nwachukwu chased down the title-clinching takedown as time expired.

The 23-year-old Nwachukwu, born in Nigeria before relocating to California in her youth, is a U.S. Army Specialist. She is the first world champion for the Army World Class Athlete Program in over two decades (Iris Smith, 2005).

This was Nwachukwu’s second world final this month. She was runner-up at the U23 World Championships in Las Vegas before heading to Kazakhstan.

Also on the medal stand for the U.S. women on Thursday was Olympic silver medalist Kennedy Blades, who pinned her way to a second straight world championship bronze medal at 68 kg. Mongolia’s Delgermaa Enkhsaikhan built a 2-0 lead on Blades heading into the second period, but Blades took over thereafter. Blades countered an Enkhsaikhan front headlock attempt to her back, cinching up a pin with 48 seconds left in the contest.

On the wrong end of bronze medal matches were Cristelle Rodriguez-Dobler at 53 kg and Precious Wieser at 72 kg. Rodriguez-Dobler dropped a 6-3 decision to Romania’s Andreea Ana for the second straight year at the World Championships. Wieser lost a 9-5 decision to India’s Tanu Sharma in her first Senior Worlds appearance.

With Group two’s team points added, Japan leads the women’s freestyle championship race with 120 team points, five points ahead of second-place China. The U.S. jumped into the top three with 92 points, outpacing Ukraine and India.

The U.S. women are in a prime position to win its second team title at the Senior World Championships with finalists in the two remaining weight classes. Assuming no disqualifications, a U.S. win or a Japan loss in tomorrow night’s medal round would cement it. The only U.S. women’s freestyle team championship on record came in 1999.

Action resumes Friday at Barys Arena at 10:30 a.m. local time with the women’s freestyle group three (55-59 kg) and men’s freestyle group one (65-96 kg) repechage, plus the men’s freestyle group two (61-70-86-125 kg) qualification rounds.

Taking mats in the morning for Team USA are Marcus Blaze (MFS, 61 kg), Zain Retherford (MFS, 70 kg), Kyle Dake (MFS, 86 kg) and Wyatt Hendrickson (MFS, 125 kg). Astana, Kazakhstan, is nine hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time.

U.S. fans can watch the Senior World Championships live or on-demand at FloWrestling.org. Brackets and live results are available at uww.org.

On Wednesday night, Americans’ Helen Maroulis and Dymond Guilford secured bronze medals in women’s freestyle at Barys Arena.

The medal rounds are old hat for Maroulis, who is now a nine-time Senior world medalist and three-time Olympic medalist. The Rockville, Md., native battled through adversity in her 57 kg bronze medal match against Asian Games bronze medalist Nilufar Raimova of Kazakhstan.

Maroulis took a 4-0 lead into the break before a cut opened above her right eye, requiring a full head wrap to continue. She weathered Raimova’s second-period flurries to hold on to a 5-2 decision.

The legend continues to grow for Maroulis, who has set record after record for the U.S. women. She is now tied atop the U.S. history books with four others—Bruce Baumgartner, Jordan Burroughs, Kristie Davis and Adeline Gray—who have reached the nine-medal mark at the World Championships. No American has won 10.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Guilford reached a medal match at the Senior worlds for the first time. She took control of the 76 kg bronze medal match against Kadriye Kocak Aksoy of Türkiye with a snatch single-leg takedown to the back at the end of the first period. Strong positioning with a sizeable second-period lead pushed Guilford to a 7-2 decision.