Alyssa Lampe defeated Thi Vu of Vietnam in her first match on Wednesday (Photo/Jeff Beshey, The Guillotine)Two-time bronze medalist Alyssa Lampe (48 kilos) had the most productive day of any U.S. wrestler as she won two matches to reach the quarterfinals before losing.
The two other U.S. women competing, Whitney Conder (53 kilos) and Elena Pirozhkova (69 kilos), each won a match.
The lone U.S. Greco-Roman wrestler competing on Wednesday, Jordan Holm (85 kilos), lost his opening match and did not have the opportunity to wrestle back.
Lampe had to dig deep to defeat Thi Vu of Vietnam in her first match. Vu led 5-4 after an action-filled first period, and then extended her lead to 7-4 in the second period after a slick duckunder takedown. Lampe battled back with a four-point feet-to-back takedown, which she followed up with a turn and pinned Vu.
In the second round Lampe faced a game Hyon Kim of Korea and prevailed in a barnburner. Kim looked to be in control early, scoring with a takedown and pushout to go up 3-0. Lampe would take the lead after a double leg takedown to the back for four points before nearly securing the pin. Kim retook the lead with a takedown that occurred with just over a minute remaining in the match. Lampe continued to press forward, and with 15 seconds left Kim was called for fleeing the mat, giving Lampe a point to make it 5-5 on the scoreboard. Lampe won on criteria.
"I didn't know that I had won that match," said Lampe. "The last time I looked at the score I needed to score, so it was a surprise to me that I had actually won that match."
Lampe's run through the championship bracket came to an end in the quarterfinals against China's Hui Li, a 2003 World bronze medalist. Li was dominant from start to finish, picking up a takedown and two gut wrenches to go up 6-0. Then Li put the match away with another takedown and turn to earn the 10-0 technical fall in the first period.
Alyssa Lampe gets her hand raised after her victory over Hyon Gyong Kim of Korea (Photo/Jeff Beshey, The Guillotine)"I definitely imagined it a different way," Lampe said of her tournament. "I imagined myself standing at the top of the podium with a gold medal around my neck. So I'm just disappointed."
Lampe said she had a tough weight cut, but still felt great.
"I didn't even feel the effects," Lampe said of her weight cut. "In fact, usually my legs are the first to tire out. Today my arms did. I just felt great. I didn't wrestle the best I've ever wrestled, but I definitely kept pushing the pace."
U.S. women's freestyle coach Terry Steiner believes it came down to fight.
"She had some good effort in earlier matches, but when she got to China … I just don't believe that someone is 10 points better than us," said Steiner. "It's one thing getting beat 5-4 or something like that. I can handle that. I can't handle getting beat 10-0. Somewhere we're laying down and not fighting. That's not the American way."
Elena Pirozhkova earned a 59-second pin in her first match of the World Championships (Photo/Jeff Beshey, The Guillotine)In the second round Pirozhkova struggled to find her offense in a 5-3 loss to Sweden's Anna Fransson, who entered the event ranked No. 9 in the world.
Fransson, a World champion in 2012, went up 1-0 after Pirozhkova was put on the shot clock and failed to score. Fransson added a takedown to go up 3-0 shortly before the end of the first period. The wrestler from Sweden added to her lead in the second period with a takedown to go up 5-0. Pirozhkova tightened the match to 5-3 after a takedown and unsuccessful challenge by the Sweden coaches. But that's how the match would end.
"This is probably the best I've ever felt," Pirozhkova said. "The results don't show, but I feel really good because I don't really cut weight for this weight class. I know a lot of the girls do. I just felt great. I've had great training. It's just like the little things that kind of got away from me in the match."
Pirozhkova is a four-time World medalist, with all four of her medals coming at 63 kilos. This year she made the decision to move up to 69 kilos. She said she felt a little "out-powered" in the new weight class, especially in her loss. She has not decided whether she will stay at 69 kilos or move back down to 63 kilos in 2016. Steiner believes the right weight class for Pirozhkova is 63 kilos.
"If I stay in this weight class I'm just going to have to get a little bigger to compete with some of these girls," said Pirozhkova.
Whitney Conder opened her day with a pin over Isabelle Sambou of Senegal (Photo/Jeff Beshey, The Guillotine)In the second round Conder faced China's Zhong Xuechun, who is ranked No. 3 in the world, and lost 6-2. Conder struck first, picking up a takedown midway through the first period to go up 2-0. Late in the first period Xuechun scored with a takedown and turn to grab a 4-2 lead. Xuechun added a takedown in the final period to win by four.
Conder, a member of the Army World Class Athlete Program, was visibly distraught after her exit from the competition.
"I just didn't give myself enough chances, I guess," Conder said. "I made a few mistakes against China that I definitely know I need to go back fix. Just come back next year and hopefully fix the mistakes I made."
Holm, the final American Greco-Roman wrestler competing in Las Vegas, dropped his opening match to Javid Hamzatau of Belarus 3-1 at 85 kilos. Holm was able to get on the scoreboard first, scoring a point off a second passivity call just over two minutes into the match. In the second period Hamzatau scored with a pushout just over a minute into the period, and then with 45 seconds left was able to turn Holm with a gut wrench. Holm was eliminated from the competition after Hamzatau lost his next match to Iran's Habibollah Akhlaghi.
Jordan Holm dropped his opening match to Javid Hamzatau of Belarus (Photo/Jeff Beshey, The Guillotine)It's the second straight year that Holm has lost his opening match at the World Championships. Holm put together his best season, winning some international events and earning a No. 13 ranking in the world.
"I'm confident in my ability to beat anybody in the weight class," said Holm. "I've beaten a number of medalists. I've had better days than guys. Today I didn't have my best day."
U.S. women's wrestlers Helen Maroulis (55 kilos), Alli Ragan (58 kilos), Erin Clodgo (63 kilos) and Adeline Gray (75 kilos) will compete on Thursday, along with U.S. freestyle wrestler Brent Metcalf (65 kilos).
Japan crowned two World champions on Wednesday night in women's freestyle: Saori Yoshida (53 kilos) and Eri Tosaka (48 kilos).
For Yoshida, a Japanese wrestling legend, it was her 13th World title. She was pushed in her gold-medal match by Sofia Mattsson of Sweden, but prevailed 2-1.
Tosaka edged Mariya Stadnyk of Azerbaijan 3-2 for her third World title.
Olympic champion Natalia Vorobieva claimed her first World title at 69 kilos.
Zhan Beleniuk of Ukraine won the final gold medal in Greco Roman, shutting out Rustam Assakalov of Uzbekistan 6-0 in the gold-medal match.
Day 3 (Wednesday) Medalists
85 kilos:
Gold: Zhan Beleniuk (Ukraine)
Silver: Rustam Assakalov (Uzbekistan)
Bronze: Habibollah Akhlaghi (Iran)
Bronze: Saman Tahmasebi (Azerbaijan)
5th: Rami Hietaniemi (Finland)
5th: Viktor Lorincz (Hungary)
48 kilos:
Gold: Eri Tosaka (Japan)
Silver: Mariya Stadnyk (Azerbaijan)
Bronze: Jessica Blaszka (Netherlands)
Bronze: Genevieve Morrison (Canada)
5th: Hui Li (China)
5th: Valentina Islamova (Russia)
53 kilos:
Gold: Saori Yoshida (Japan)
Silver: Sofia Mattsson (Sweden)
Bronze: Myong Jong (North Korea)
Bronze: Odunayo Adekuoroye (Nigeria)
5th: Anzhela Dorogan (Azerbaijan)
5th: Xuechun Zhong (China)
69 kilos:
Gold: Natalia Vorobieva (Russia)
Silver: Feng Zhou (China)
Bronze: Sara Dosho (Japan)
Bronze: Aline Focken (Germany)
5th: Nasanburmaa Ochirbat (Mongolia)
5th: Jenny Fransson (Sweden)
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