There, on October 18 and 19, the 2025 Beach Wrestling World Champions will be decided as the tour returns to Africa.

After Saturday's thrilling group stages, the competition moved straight into the elimination rounds and finals on Sunday, delivering shocks, dominant wins and intensified title ambitions.

The women's 50 kg category began with Alevtyna Liashenko, Ukraine's U20 World silver medallist, taking home the gold. She overcame the returning Stefania Priceputu of Romania in the semifinal, winning the last point in a tight contest, before defeating home favourite Aikaterini Vekri from Greece 3-0 in the final. Team USA’s Adriana Gomez took bronze, edging out Priceputu 1-0, her second bronze of the week after also reaching the U20 podium.

Ukraine had held a vice-like grip on the 60kg division throughout the World Series, but that dominance was broken in Katerini. Spain’s Lydia Perez shocked the field with elimination-round wins over Ukrainian powerhouses Oksana Moskalova in the semifinal and Sofiia Kushnir in the final to claim gold. Moskalova recovered to take bronze by defeating reigning champion Anastasiya Kravchenko, also from Ukraine.

In the women’s 70kg, Moldova’s Irina Ringaci – 3rd at the Wrestling World Championships in Zagreb recently – returned for her first event since winning in Poreč, Croatia and doubled her gold medal tally. She swept past Olena Nikitinska (UKR) in just 48 seconds in the semifinal, then needed only 59 seconds to defeat Romana Vovchak (UKR) in the final. Nikitinska secured bronze.

With reigning champion Eliana Bommarito (USA) absent in the +70kg category, her closest challenger Iryna Pasichnyk seized the opportunity to tighten the title race. The Ukrainian claimed gold after a 1-1 final decided by last point against compatriot Daria Konstantynova. Greece’s Stefania Zacheila kept her slim championship hopes alive with bronze, defeating Aikaterini Eirini Pitsiava.

In the men’s competition, Iran repeated their Casablanca clean sweep by taking all four gold medals. It was the most dominant showing by a nation since the era of the Glorious Georgians in 2019.

The run began in the men’s 70kg as Aliakbar Zaroudi made it back-to-back titles, defeating reigning champion Oleksii Boruta (UKR), who had returned after missing the Moroccan leg. Levan Kelekhsashvili, Georgia’s three-time world champion, claimed the bronze medal.

Iran’s second gold came in the men’s 80kg through Ali Gholami, who also repeated his Casablanca success. He overcame Moldova’s Vasile Diacon in the semifinal before beating Azerbaijan’s Vusal Aliyev in the final. Diacon took bronze.

In the 90kg weight category, Iran’s Amirhossein Kavousi produced another dominant display, claiming back-to-back golds with a 3-0 win over Oleksii Yakovchuk in the final. The Ukrainian had earlier defeated reigning champion Ibrahim Yusubov (AZE), who later secured bronze.

The sweep was completed in the men’s +90kg when Seyedamirreza Sahraeimahali repeated his Moroccan triumph, edging out current world champion Mamuka Kordzaia (GEO) in a tense 1-0 final. Ukraine’s Mykola Kuchmii took bronze.

It was a spectacular weekend of wrestling in Katerini, Greece and it sets up an unmissable finale in Alexandria on October 18 and 19, where the 2025 Kings and Queens of the Beach Wrestling World Series will be crowned on African soil for the first time ever.

It promises to be quite the spectacle as the toughest sport on sand brings down the curtain on another year of world-class beach wrestling.

Follow the Beach Wrestling World Series social media platforms and tune into the live stream to catch every moment.