The U23 World Wrestling Championships, which concluded in Las Vegas, USA, left mixed impressions of Azerbaijan's national team's performance.
As reported by İdman.Biz, Azerbaijani wrestlers claimed five medals – two silver and three bronze. However, behind those achievements lies a far less encouraging statistical picture.
Of Azerbaijan's 23 representatives, only two reached the finals, and both lost their decisive bouts. As a result, the national team finished the U23 World Championships without a gold medal for the first time in three years.
This is a reason for concern. After all, the U23 category is not merely another stage of youth wrestling development but the most immediate talent pool for the senior national team. Moreover, many wrestlers in this age group already compete at senior level, while some are considered potential participants in the 2028 Olympic Games.
A repeat of a nine-year-old negative record
To objectively assess Azerbaijan's performance in Las Vegas, it is worth examining the history of the U23 World Championships, which have been held since 2017.
At the inaugural tournament in Bydgoszcz, Poland, Azerbaijan won five medals, all bronze. In 2018 and 2019, Azerbaijani wrestlers collected seven medals each year, including one gold on both occasions.
In 2021, the national team secured six medals, three of them gold. Another seven medals followed in 2022, including one gold.
The 2023 championships in Tirana proved particularly productive, with Azerbaijani wrestlers reaching the podium 11 times. However, the team again failed to win a gold medal, finishing with four silver and seven bronze medals.
In 2024, Azerbaijan claimed eight medals, including two gold. A year later, in Novi Sad, Serbia, the team won seven medals, three of them gold. In terms of gold medals, the 2025 result was Azerbaijan's best in the history of the U23 World Championships.
Against this background, this year's five medals represent a step backward. The national team also equaled its lowest medal tally in the competition's history.
There is, however, one important distinction: in 2017, all five medals were bronze, whereas this year Azerbaijan secured two silver medals.
The 16 seconds that cost Azerbaijan gold
Perhaps the most dramatic moment for Azerbaijan came in the women's 59 kg final.
Gunay Gurbanova was just seconds away from becoming world champion. Facing Ukraine's Alina Filipovych, the 18-year-old Azerbaijani wrestler led 4-2 with only 16 seconds remaining.
However, her opponent managed to execute a scoring attack, level the bout at 4-4 and claim victory under the last-scoring-action criterion.
What makes this defeat particularly frustrating is that Gurbanova has experienced similar setbacks before.
At last year's U23 World Championships, she also surrendered a lead in the closing seconds of her semifinal. At this year's senior European Championships, she once again lost a semifinal in the final moments.
In an interview with İdman.Biz following that European tournament, Gurbanova admitted that she had relaxed slightly after seeing just 15 seconds remaining on the clock, which led to a mistake.
Of course, it would be wrong to claim that exactly the same thing happened in Las Vegas. Nevertheless, repeated defeats in the decisive seconds highlight the importance of psychological resilience, concentration and the ability to protect a lead.
At the same time, Gurbanova's progress is undeniable.
Within a year, she improved her U23 World Championships result from bronze to silver, became a two-time European U23 champion and also secured a bronze medal at the senior European Championships.
Her potential is enormous. The next challenge is learning how to turn near victories into championship titles.
World champion loses his crown
Azerbaijan's other opportunity to win gold came through Greco-Roman wrestler Elmir Aliyev.
Last year, Aliyev became U23 world champion in the 55 kg category. In Las Vegas, he moved up to 60 kg and once again reached the final.
However, his decisive bout against Kazakhstan's Aibek Aitbekov ended in a convincing 13-4 victory for his opponent.
Unlike Gurbanova's final, this was not a case of a costly mistake in the closing seconds. The nine-point margin reflected the Kazakh wrestler's significant superiority in that particular contest.
Nevertheless, the change in weight category must also be considered.
Aliyev moved from the non-Olympic 55 kg division to the Olympic 60 kg category, where he must adapt to different opponents and competitive demands.
For this reason, silver should not automatically be regarded as a failure. However, the final demonstrated that last year's championship experience alone is not enough to compete successfully against the strongest wrestlers in his new division.
Familiar medalists and a shortage of new names
The performances of Azerbaijan's other medalists were equally revealing.
Freestyle wrestler Khetag Karsanov, who won silver last year, settled for bronze in the 125 kg category this time.
For the second consecutive year, the same opponent stood in his way – Iran's Abolfazl Nejad.
In 2025, Karsanov lost to him 11-0 in the final. In Las Vegas, he suffered another defeat, this time 5-0 in the semifinals.
Thus, the Azerbaijani wrestler once again failed to find an effective strategy against a familiar and formidable rival.
Meanwhile, Ruslan Nurullayev retained his U23 World Championships bronze medal after moving from 72 kg to the Olympic 77 kg division.
Considering the change in weight category and the increased competition, his result can be assessed positively. However, the wrestler himself admitted that mistakes in his opening bout deprived him of the opportunity to fight for gold.
Anar Jafarli (92 kg) provided a welcome exception.
After losing his opening bout, he managed to recover through the repechage rounds and eventually secured a bronze medal.
Yet another detail deserves attention.
Four of Azerbaijan's five medalists in Las Vegas – Aliyev, Gurbanova, Nurullayev and Karsanov – had also reached the podium at last year's U23 World Championships.
Jafarli was the only new medalist compared with the previous edition.
Of course, national team lineups change, and not all of last year's champions competed in Las Vegas.
Nevertheless, these figures raise questions about the depth of Azerbaijan's emerging talent pool and the number of young wrestlers currently capable of challenging for world medals.
What did Las Vegas reveal?
Five medals cannot be described as a failure.
Azerbaijan still possesses talented young wrestlers capable of competing successfully on the international stage.
However, there is a fundamental difference between regularly reaching the podium and winning decisive bouts.
Several concerning patterns emerged in Las Vegas: surrendered leads in the closing seconds, heavy defeats against strong opponents, difficulties adapting to new weight categories and limited squad depth in the battle for medals.
At the same time, individual setbacks are not sufficient grounds for drawing definitive conclusions about the quality of the entire wrestling development system.
A more detailed assessment would require an examination of performances across all weight categories, team selections and the overall level of competition.
Nevertheless, the statistics cannot simply be ignored.
This is particularly important because the U23 category represents the immediate reserve of the senior national team and will play a crucial role in shaping the future of Azerbaijani wrestling.
With less than two years remaining until the Los Angeles Olympics, the key question is not only why Azerbaijani wrestlers failed to win gold in Las Vegas, but also how prepared they are to compete against the world's best at senior level in the near future.
Therefore, these championships should be viewed not as a final verdict, but as a warning sign.
Azerbaijani wrestling has promising athletes. The main question is whether they can take the next step and transform their potential into major victories.
