U20 World Wrestling Championships

The U20 World Wrestling Championships is the main wrestling championships in the Junior age category (between 17 and 20 years old), organised by United World Wrestling (UWW).^[1] This event was held twice in 1979 and 1980.^[2][3]

U20 World Wrestling Championships
Status	Active
Genre	Sporting event
Date(s)	Mid-year
Frequency	Annual
Country	Varying
Inaugurated	1969
Organised by	UWW

Rename

The past name for the competition was the Junior World Championships.^[4] In November 2021, the UWW renamed the Junior Worlds to U20 and Cadet Worlds to U17.

Editions

• 1980 in Stockholm probably was in U15 (Schools) in 13 + 13 weights
• 1992 (LL, GR) and 1993 (LF) was counted one edition
• Not held in 2002 and 2004
• Shared bronze medal awarded since 2005
• 1983 – 1995 : Espoir World Championships

#	Year	Host city	Host country	Events
Junior
Biannual
1	1969	Boulder, Colorado	United States	20
2	1971	Tokyo	Japan	20
3	1973	Miami Beach / Unknown	United States (LL) / Unknown (GR)	20
4	1975	Haskovo / Unknown	Bulgaria (LL) / Unknown (GR)	20
Annual
5	1977	Las Vegas / Unknown	United States (LL) / Unknown (GR)	20
6	1978	Colorado Springs / Unknown	United States (LL) / Unknown (GR)	20
7	1979-1	Colorado Springs / Unknown	United States (LL) / Unknown (GR)	20
7	1979-2	Ulaanbaatar / Haparanda	Mongolia (LL) /  Sweden (GR)	20
8	1980-1	Stockholm	Sweden	26
8	1980-2	Colorado Springs	United States	20
9	1981	Vancouver / Unknown	Canada / Unknown (GR)	20
10	1982	Colorado Springs	United States	20
11	1983	Oak Lawn	United States	20
12	1984	Washington	United States	20
1985 No Compettion
Biannual
13	1986	Schifferstadt	Germany	20
14	1988	Wolfurt / Dijon	Austria (LL , GR) /  France (LF)	29
Men - Women
15	1990	Istanbul / Unknown	Turkey (LL) / Unknown (GR)	20
15	1991	Barcelona	Spain (GR)	10
16	1992	Cali	Colombia (LL,GR)	20
16	1993	Goetzis	Austria (LF)	8
End
17	1994	Budapest	Hungary	20
1995 No Compettion
18	1996	Moscow / Walbrzych	Russia (LL) /  Poland (GR)	20
19	1997	Helsinki / Turku	Finland (LL) /  Finland (GR)	20
20	1998	Las Vegas / Cairo / Fredrikstad	United States (LL) /  Egypt (GR) /  Norway (LF)	28
21	1999	Bucharest / Sydney	Romania (GR , LF) /  Australia (LL)	26
22	2000	Nantes	France	26
23	2001	Tashkent / Martigny	Uzbekistan (LL , GR) /  Switzerland (LF)	26
Unit Host
2002 No Compettion
24	2003	Istanbul	Turkey	24
2004 No Compettion
25	2005	Vilnius	Lithuania	24
26	2006	Guatemala City	Guatemala	24
27	2007	Beijing	China	24
28	2008	Istanbul	Turkey	24
29	2009	Ankara	Turkey	24
30	2010	Budapest	Hungary	24
31	2011	Bucharest	Romania	24
32	2012	Pattaya	Thailand	24
33	2013	Sofia	Bulgaria	24
34	2014	Zagreb	Croatia	24
35	2015	Salvador da Bahia	Brazil	24
36	2016	Mâcon	France	24
37	2017	Tampere	Finland	24
38	2018	Trnava	Slovakia	30
39	2019	Tallinn	Estonia	30
2020 No Compettion
40	2021	Ufa	Russia	30
U20
41	2022	Sofia	Bulgaria	30
42	2023	Amman	Jordan	30
43	2024	Pontevedra	Spain	30
44	2025	Samokov	Bulgaria	30

• FS : Freestyle / GR : Greco-Roman / WW : Women's Freestyle

All-time medal table

• Junior / U20 World Championship Medal Count (1969–1973, 2000–2025)

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Russia	126	73	102	301
2	Japan	93	27	71	191
3	Iran	80	57	68	205
4	United States	52	58	100	210
5	Azerbaijan	40	35	72	147
6	Turkey	34	39	83	156
7	Soviet Union	28	14	6	48
8	Georgia	26	33	48	107
9	Ukraine	22	29	69	120
10	Bulgaria	15	30	29	74
11	Kazakhstan	13	29	46	88
12	China	13	16	30	59
13	India	11	26	55	92
14	Armenia	11	22	28	61
15	Uzbekistan	10	13	24	47
16	Kyrgyzstan	9	12	28	49
–	Individual Neutral Athletes	9	7	15	31
17	Sweden	8	8	24	40
18	Hungary	6	6	34	46
19	France	6	5	6	17
20	Germany	5	18	24	47
21	Mongolia	5	10	23	38
22	Belarus	5	9	23	37
23	Canada	5	4	14	23
24	Cuba	4	7	4	15
–	United World Wrestling	4	5	11	20
25	Romania	3	11	12	26
26	Moldova	3	9	15	27
27	Poland	1	7	20	28
28	South Korea	1	6	9	16
29	Lithuania	1	3	5	9
30	Italy	1	2	7	10
31	Egypt	1	2	6	9
32	Serbia	1	2	1	4
33	Latvia	1	1	3	5
34	Israel	1	1	1	3
35	Colombia	1	1	0	2
	Netherlands	1	1	0	2
37	Finland	1	0	11	12
38	Turkmenistan	1	0	1	2
39	Norway	0	3	5	8
40	Austria	0	3	1	4
41	Vietnam	0	3	0	3
42	Greece	0	2	7	9
43	Mexico	0	1	4	5
44	Brazil	0	1	2	3
	Ecuador	0	1	2	3
	Switzerland	0	1	2	3
47	Chinese Taipei	0	1	1	2
	Croatia	0	1	1	2
49	North Korea	0	1	0	1
	Spain	0	1	0	1
	Venezuela	0	1	0	1
52	West Germany	0	0	5	5
53	Tunisia	0	0	4	4
54	East Germany	0	0	3	3
	Estonia	0	0	3	3
	Slovakia	0	0	3	3
57	South Africa	0	0	2	2
58	Algeria	0	0	1	1
	Bahrain	0	0	1	1
	Czech Republic	0	0	1	1
	Guatemala	0	0	1	1
	Honduras	0	0	1	1
	Puerto Rico	0	0	1	1
	Sri Lanka	0	0	1	1
Totals (64 entries)		658	658	1,180	2,496

•  Serbia consist of  Serbia and Montenegro and  Yugoslavia.
• was competed in 2023–2024.
• was competed in 2025.

Team rankings

1969-2000: by medal ranking

2000-2025: by point ranking

Not awarded team trophy in medal ranking

Year	Men's Freestyle				Men's Greco-Roman				Women's Freestyle
	1	2	3		1	2	3		1	2	3
1969	United States	Soviet Union	Japan		Soviet Union	Bulgaria	Sweden		No Competition
1971	Iran	United States	Japan		Soviet Union	Bulgaria	United States		No Competition
1973	Soviet Union	Bulgaria	Japan		Soviet Union	Romania	Bulgaria		No Competition
1975	Soviet Union	Bulgaria	Romania		Soviet Union	Bulgaria	Sweden		No Competition
1977	Soviet Union	United States	Bulgaria		Soviet Union	Bulgaria	Poland		No Competition
1978	United States	Iran	Greece		United States	West Germany	Canada		No Competition
1979-1	United States	West Germany	Japan		West Germany	United States	Netherlands		No Competition
1979-2	Soviet Union	Bulgaria	Mongolia		Soviet Union	Bulgaria	Sweden		No Competition
1980	United States	Japan	Mexico		West Germany	Yugoslavia	Sweden		No Competition
1981	Soviet Union	Bulgaria	Japan		Soviet Union	Hungary	Bulgaria		No Competition
1982	United States	Bulgaria	South Korea		Soviet Union	United States	West Germany		No Competition
1983	Soviet Union	United States	South Korea		Soviet Union	West Germany	Turkey		No Competition
1984	United States	West Germany	South Korea		South Korea	West Germany	China		No Competition
1986	Soviet Union	Bulgaria	North Korea		Soviet Union	Cuba	Romania		No Competition
1988	Soviet Union	Bulgaria	North Korea		Soviet Union	Bulgaria	South Korea		France	China	Norway
1990	Soviet Union	Iran	Bulgaria		Soviet Union	Bulgaria	Hungary		No Competition
1991	No Competition				Soviet Union	Hungary	Turkey		No Competition
1992	South Korea	Turkey	Bulgaria		Cuba	Turkey	Russia		No Competition
1994	Russia	Iran	Turkey		Turkey	Russia	South Korea		No Competition
1996	Cuba	Russia	Iran		Russia	Ukraine	Turkey		No Competition
1997	Iran	Turkey	Russia		Russia	Turkey	Belarus		No Competition
1998	Russia	United States	Iran		Russia	Turkey	Iran		Russia	Japan	Poland
1999	Russia	Iran	South Korea		Russia	Germany	Greece		Japan	Russia	Ukraine
2000	Russia	Iran	Kazakhstan		Ukraine	Russia	Kazakhstan		Japan	Germany	United States
2001	Russia	Georgia	Iran		Russia	Iran	Turkey		Japan	Russia	Germany
2003	Russia	Iran	Turkey		Turkey	Georgia	Russia		China	Russia	United States
2005	Russia	Iran	Bulgaria		Turkey	Iran	Uzbekistan		Japan	Ukraine	United States
2006	Russia	Iran	Turkey		Turkey	Russia	Hungary		Japan	Russia	Belarus
2007	Russia	Iran	Turkey		Russia	Iran	Turkey		China	Russia	United States
2008	Russia	Iran	Georgia		Turkey	Iran	Kyrgyzstan		Russia	Turkey	Japan
2009	Russia	Iran	Azerbaijan		Iran	Azerbaijan	Turkey		Russia	Ukraine	Japan
2010	Russia	Turkey	Georgia		Russia	Azerbaijan	Ukraine		Russia	China	Japan
2011	Russia	Georgia	Iran		Georgia	Russia	Armenia		Japan	Russia	United States
2012	Russia	Iran	Georgia		Azerbaijan	Russia	Turkey		Japan	China	Belarus
2013	Russia	Turkey	Iran		Russia	Armenia	Iran		Japan	Russia	Bulgaria
2014	Iran	United States	Russia		Azerbaijan	Georgia	Russia		Japan	Russia	Azerbaijan
2015	Iran	Azerbaijan	Russia		Georgia	Azerbaijan	Turkey		Japan	Azerbaijan	Russia
2016	Russia	Azerbaijan	Turkey		Georgia	Russia	Iran		Japan	China	Ukraine
2017	United States	Russia	Iran		Iran	Russia	Turkey		Japan	Russia	China
2018	Russia	United States	Iran		Iran	Russia	Armenia		Japan	Russia	China
2019	Russia	United States	Iran		Russia	Iran	Turkey		Japan	Russia	Ukraine
2021	Iran	Russia	United States		Russia	Iran	Azerbaijan		United States	Russia	India
2022	Iran	United States	India		Iran	Azerbaijan	Ukraine		Japan	India	United States
2023	Iran	United States	India		Iran	Georgia	Armenia		India	Japan	United States
2024	United States	Iran	Japan		Iran	Kazakhstan	Turkey		Japan	India	United States
2025	United States	Kazakhstan	Iran		Iran	Armenia	Azerbaijan		Japan	India	China

Team titles

Country	Men's freestyle	Men's Greco-Roman	Women's freestyle	Total
Russia	18	10	4	32
Soviet Union	9	13	0	22
Japan	0	0	17	17
Iran	7	7	0	14
United States	9	1	1	11
Turkey	0	5	0	5
Georgia	0	3	0	3
Azerbaijan	0	2	0	2
China	0	0	2	2
Cuba	1	1	0	2
South Korea	1	1	0	2
West Germany	0	2	0	2
France	0	0	1	1
India	0	0	1	1
Ukraine	0	1	0	1
Total	45	46	26	117

Espoir

#	Year	Host city	Host country	Events
Unit and Various Host
1	1983	Anaheim / Kristiansund	United States (LL) /  Norway (GR)	20
2	1985	Colorado Springs	United States	20
3	1987	Burnaby	Canada	20
4	1989	Ulaanbaatar / Budapest	Mongolia (LL) /  Hungary (GR)	20
5	1991	Unknown / Unknown	Unknown / Unknown	20
6	1993	Athens	Greece	20
7	1995	Tehran	Iran	20

• LL : Freestyle / GR : Greco-Roman
• After 1995 Junior and Espoir was merged.

See also

• List of Cadet, Junior and U-23 World Champions in men's freestyle wrestling
• List of Cadet, Junior and U-23 World Champions in men's Greco-Roman wrestling
• World Wrestling Championships