OTTAWA — Wrestling Canada Lutte (WCL) is proud to announce the athletes and team staff that will be competing at the 2025 Senior World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia, September 13-21. The team will be comprised of 15 athletes, seven male and eight female, and feature two past world champions, world medalists and one member of the 2024 Olympic team.

“Wrestling Canada Lutte is proud to see the nation’s top athletes representing Canada on the world stage,” said Chris Woodcroft, High Performance Director. “This marks the first World Championships since the Paris Olympic Games, and we’re excited to see a number of young wrestlers making their Senior Worlds debut. At the same time, several seasoned veterans are returning with the goal of solidifying their international rankings and competing for a podium finish at one of the toughest events of the year. Our team has delivered strong international performances in the lead-up to these Championships, and we’re confident those results will carry momentum into this tournament.”

Leading the way on the women’s side will be 2024 Olympian Ana Godinez Gonazlez. Godinez Gonzalez, from Surrey, British Columbia and training out of Burnaby Mountain WC, finished fifth in Paris, just missing out on a podium. The 2021 U23 World Champion has already captured a medal this year with a gold at the Pan-American (Pan-Am) Championships. She will compete at 62kg.

Godinez Gonzalez will be joined by her sister Karla Godinez Gonzalez. Karla Godinez Gonzalez, also from Surrey and training at Burnaby Mountain WC, also took gold at this year’s Pan-Ams and added a silver at the Hungary Ranking Series event in July. She is a past Senior World medalist having captured bronze in 2022.  Karla Godinez Gonzalez will compete at that same weight class she won her bronze in, 55kg.

One more past Senior World medalist competing this year will be Frederickton, New Brunswick’s Samantha Stewart. Stewart, who trains out of Black Bears WC, won bronze at the Senior Worlds in 2021. Stewart has been turning in strong performance after strong performance at the UWW Ranking Series events lately. She won gold at the 2025 2^nd Ranking Series in Albania and silver at the 2025 1^st Ranking Series in Croatia. She will look to translate that success at the Worlds at 57kg.

On the men’s side, former Junior World Champion, Peiman Biabani will be in action at 65kg. Biabani, who now resides in Anmore, British Columbia, accomplished the feat when he was still representing Iran. Now, representing Canada, Biabani has won a Pan-Am silver and bronze and will be looking for a World medal to add to his collection.

2025 World Team Roster

Joining the athletes will be the coaches and support staff. The group includes event coaches Dave McKay and Saeed Azarbayjani, personal coaches Dave Spinney and David Zilberman, team leader Chris Woodcroft and physiotherapist Max Hanna. Curtis Leung, Marcia Chiasson and Demetra Koutsopodiotis will represent Canada as officials.

For live updates, schedules, and results, visit the official tournament page at: https://uww.org/event/senior-world-championships/athletes. The event will be streamed on UWW+.