Bella Williams has just about done it all. State champion, Fargo champion, Pan-American champion, and USA Women’s national champion. And those are just a few of the incredible accomplishments the 19-year old has achieved on the mat.
Now, Williams looks to add to her already impressive résumé as she represents Team USA at 62 kg in the U20 World Championships taking place August 19-20 in Bratislava, Slovakia.
Williams earned the coveted spot on the team by dominating the field to win the U20 USA Wrestling Women’s Nationals (World Team Trials) in April in Spokane, Washington. Williams, the number two seed, opened the tournament with a 12-2 tech fall, before advancing to the quarterfinals with a 4-2 win over Makayla Paclib. In the quarterfinals, Williams earned an 11-0 tech fall over Jacinda Espinosa, and advanced to the finals with a fall in 4:08 over Naima Ghaffar.
In the finals, Williams faced #4 seed Carley Ceshker, who had advanced to the finals with a fall over number one seed Haylie Jaffe. The championship was a best-of-three series, but Williams needed only two matches, dominating the first match by an 11-1 tech fall and wrapping up the title with a 6-0 shutout. The victory gave Williams the 62kg national title and a trip to the U20 World Championships.
The World Championships will be the end of a busy and successful spring and summer for Williams. In addition to earning the U20 title, she earned a runner-up finish at the U23 World Team Trials and an 8th place finish at the Senior National Tournament. Last month she showed that she is ready for the World Championships, earning a bronze medal at the senior level Grand Prix of Spain. Her performance at the tournament included a statement win over 2023 World bronze medalist Othelie Hoie from Norway.
Williams enters a loaded weight that includes two-time U20 world champion and 2025 Senior World champion Sakura Onishi from Japan. In addition to Onishi, the field includes U17 world champion, Ozdenur Ozmez from Turkey, former U17 world champion, Savita from India, U20 Asian champion Yifan Zhu from China, and U20 European champion Ekaterina Radysheva from Russia.
Williams is a member of the Iowa Women’s Wrestling team and Iowa will be well represented at the U20 World Championships. University of Iowa Women’s Head Coach Clarissa Chum will be coaching the team, with Williams being one of four Iowa wrestlers competing in the tournament. Williams will be joined by Taylor Whiting (53 kg), Karlee Brooks (57 kg), and returning U20 world champion Everest Leydecker (55 kg).
In 2024, Williams won a U17 national title, earning a spot to the World Championships, but did not attend due to heightened security issues. The tournament was in Jordan and the embassy and airlines were on alert due to an elevated threat over Iran. Nearly half of the team did not go that year due to the threat.
In 2025, Williams earned runner-up finishes at the World Team Trials in both the U20 and U23 tournaments. Also in 2025, she was the gold medalist at the U20 and U23 Pan American Championships. She won her first Pan American title in 2024 in the U17 division.
Williams was an undefeated three-time state champion for Edmond North and finished her high school career with a perfect 113-0 record with 107 falls. She was also named the Outstanding Wrestler of the 2022 State Tournament. Williams was a double All-American at Fargo in 2022, earning 3rd place finishes in both the Junior division and the 16U division. In 2023, she won a Fargo title and was named Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament.
