Adaugo Nwachukwu was asked before the World Wrestling Championships what she hoped to do differently in her second appearance.

“Win it,” she said.

She did, and in dramatic fashion.

Nwachukwu, a 23-year-old specialist in the U.S. Army, scored a takedown in the final seconds to overtake Nonoka Ozaki of Japan 12-11 in the 62kg final in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Thursday.

Ozaki, the 2024 Olympic bronze medalist at 68kg, led 11-9 with 13 seconds left before Nwachukwu’s rally, according to USA Wrestling.

Nwachukwu was born in Nigeria and moved to the U.S. with her dad at age 14. She was third in the 2024 Olympic Trials, then seventh in her World Championships debut in 2025 and took silver at the World U23 Championships two weeks ago.

She is the first American woman to win a senior world title in the middleweight class since Elena Pirozhkova in 2012.

Also Wednesday, American Kennedy Blades earned her second consecutive bronze medal at 68kg.

Blades, the 2024 Olympic 76kg silver medalist, won two repechage matches after a Wednesday quarterfinal defeat to two-time Olympic medalist Meerim Zhumanazarova of Kyrgyzstan.

Four more Americans clinched a medal by advancing to all four gold-medal matches on Friday: Everest Leydecker (55kg), Abigail Nette (59kg), Bo Bassett (65kg) and Kyle Snyder (97kg).

Snyder clinched his ninth career senior world medal, tying the American record shared by Kristie Davis, Helen Maroulis, Adeline Gray, Bruce Baumgartner and Jordan Burroughs.