Leydecker Earns Gold at Senior World Championships

ASTANA, Kazakhstan – First-year University of Iowa women's wrestler Everest Leydecker won the 55 kilogram gold medal at the Senior World Championships on Friday in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Leydecker opened her tournament on Thursday with a tight 2-1 decision against Canada's Karla Godinez Gonzalez before securing a semifinal bid via fall (3:55) against Germany's Anastasia Blayvas. After a 6-1 decision against Japan's Nagisa Harada to place her in the finals, Leydecker went up 1-0 at the break before finishing off her gold medal run with a 4-1 decision over Ukraine's Nataliia Klivchutska. 

With the gold, Leydecker finishes off a flurry of medals at the international level in 2026 ahead of her collegiate season:

• Gold – Senior World Championships
• Bronze – U23 World Championships
• Gold – U20 World Championships
• Gold – Pan American Championships
• Gold – Zagreb Open Ranking Series