Paris Olympics Champion Akari Fujinami Rolls to U23 World Title at 57 Kgs

By Kazunori Hirachi / Yomiuri Shimbun Sportswriter

15:46 JST, October 25, 2025

NOVI SAD, Serbia — Paris Olympic champion Akari Fujinami struck gold in her first major tournament since moving up to the next Olympic weight class of 57 kilograms, cruising to victory at wrestling’s U23 World Championships on Friday in Novi Sad, Serbia.

The 21-year-old Fujinami overwhelmed Aryna Artinova, a Belarussian competing under the United World Wrestling banner, in the final as she won all four of her matches by 10-0 technical superiority, and all within the first period.

“It was my first tournament in a while, so it was a relief, and it reminded me how much fun matches are,” Fujinami said.

The victory in her first international tournament in 14 months extended Fujinami’s current win streak to 145 matches, dating back to a loss in junior high school in June 2017.

Fujinami, a two-time senior world champion, won the gold at the Paris Olympics in the 53-kg division. After an extended hiatus from the sport, she announced she would move up to 57 kgs — bypassing the non-Olympic weight of 55 kgs — in preparation for an Olympic repeat at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

She opted to skip this year’s senior worlds as she continued to make the physical adjustment to the heavier weight class and work on improving her techniques, making her “global debut” at 57-kg at the world U23, a tournament she had previously missed due to injury.

“This is the start,” Fujinami said. “From now, I’ll enter a bunch of competitions.”

In addition to aiming for Los Angeles, Fujinami, a native of Mie Prefecture, has her sights set on winning a gold at the neighboring Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in October next year.