Bravo-Young wins world silver, Mexico's first wrestling medal
Mexico's Román Bravo-Young lost the 57 kg final to Spencer Lee in Astana, but became the first Mexican to reach a senior world final and podium.
Román Bravo-Young won silver in the 57 kg freestyle division at the world wrestling championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, giving Mexico its first medal at a senior world championship. On Sunday he lost the final to American Spencer Lee, who won 10-0 by technical superiority.
It was also the first world final for a Mexican wrestler.
Bravo-Young reached it with a 4-1 semifinal win on Saturday over North Korea's Chongsong Han, the reigning world champion, who had eliminated him in the quarterfinals in 2025. The win locked up at least silver.
"I always knew I was that good, it was just a matter of time," Bravo-Young said after the bout.
Last year he left without a medal, losing to Han and then to Armenia's Arsen Harutyunyan in the bronze-medal match. This time he went further than any Mexican before him, though he could not solve Lee, the 2024 Olympic silver medalist in Paris. Lee had beaten him at the Zagreb Ranking Series in 2025, 8-3, and at the same event in 2026 Bravo-Young withdrew with an injury while trailing 4-0.
Bravo-Young was born in Tucson, Arizona, and won two NCAA titles at Penn State. He chose to represent Mexico and competed for it at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
For Lee, the gold in Astana is his first senior world title.
