Adaugo Nwachukwu is headed to her first age-group world final.

Nwachukwu, one of the biggest names in college wrestling, advanced to the 62-kilogram finals on Thursday at the U23 World Championships in Las Vegas. After rolling through her first three opponents by technical superiority, Nwachukwu grinded out a low-scoring win over Mexico's Melanie Jimenez Villalba in the semifinals.

The semifinal was decided almost entirely by the activity clock. The first three points of the match all came from expired shot clocks, with Nwachukwu cashing in on the first two. Jimenez Villalba, a two-time age-group world medalist, did not get on the board until 30 seconds remained, when Nwachukwu's shot clock ran out. Nwachukwu held on from there to punch her ticket to the title match.

Before the semifinals, Nwachukwu was nearly untouchable. The three-time collegiate national champion posted three straight shutout technical superiorities, outscoring her opponents by a combined 31-0.

Nwachukwu opened with a 10-0 technical superiority over Puerto Rico's Elizabeth Watts. She followed with another 10-0 technical superiority, this time over Belarus' Yana Tretsiak, putting that match away with a big four-point move.

The big moves kept coming in the quarterfinals. Nwachukwu slammed Mongolia's Khulan Byambasuren for a five-point grand amplitude throw en route to an 11-0 technical superiority.

Nwachukwu will face Ukraine's Iryna Bondar, a two-time age-group world champion, in the 62-kilogram final.

Iowa's Reece Larramendy also made a deep run on Thursday. Larramendy reached the semifinals at 65 kilograms before falling 10-0 to China's Yuqi Rao, the 2025 U23 world silver medalist. Larramendy will wrestle for a bronze medal on Friday.

Larramendy competed just once in the early session, and she made it count. Facing Colombia's Nicoll Parrado Osorio, a 2023 Senior World Team member, Larramendy built a 6-0 lead and then held off a late rally to secure a 6-4 victory.

North Central College's Taylor Graveman saw her tournament end in her opening match. Graveman dropped a 6-6 decision on criteria to Türkiye's Haticenur Sari and was eliminated from medal contention.