Bassett, Guilford, Blades Complete U.S. Team for World Championships

OHIO, United States (September 25) -- U20 world champion Bowen BASSETT (USA) made his first senior World Championships team for the United States after beating world bronze medalist Real WOODS (USA) on Friday.

The U.S. held wrestle-offs in three weight classes, one in Freestyle and two in Women's Wrestling, as they were not held during the Final X in June.

Apart from Bassett, world bronze medalist Kennedy BLADES (USA) won the spot at 68kg after Isabelle MIR (USA) forfeited the best of three series while Dymond GUILFORD (USA) managed a come-from-behind win over world bronze medalist Kylie WELKER (USA) at 76kg.

Bassett rolled to back-to-back victories in the 65kg series to claim his spot, a month after winning his first U20 world title in Bratislava, Slovakia. In the opening match, after a quick exchange that left the score 2-2, Bassett grabbed a 3-2 lead at the break. In the second period, Bassett pulled away and secured the first match, 8-4.

In the second period, Woods raced to a 5-1 lead but Bassett overcame the deficit in the final two minutes to complete the sweep with a 9-5 win. 

Guilford rallied from dropping the first match of the series to Welker and won the final two bouts. After Welker took the opening match, 4-1, Guilford used strong defensive positioning in second match to grab a 3-2 victory.

Guilford kept the momentum in the third bout and upended Welker, 7-1. With the match tied at one at the break, Guilford took over in the second period with three takedowns to seal the victory.

Before the opening session, Mir withdrew from 68kg best-of-three series, giving 2024 Paris Olympic silver medalist Blades a forfeit and the spot on the U.S. team.

The 2026 World Championships will be held in Astana, Kazakhstan from October 24-November 1.