Maya Nelson became America's first Junior world champ in women's wrestling since 2010 (Photo/Richard Immel)TAMPERE, Finland -- For the first time since 2010, the United States has crowned a Junior world champion in women's wrestling.
On Friday, Maya Nelson improved upon her bronze-medal finish from 2016, upgrading to a gold medal at the 2017 Junior World Championships in Tampere, Finland.
Nelson capped off her dominant run to gold at 63 kilograms with a convincing 6-0 victory in the finals over Yuliana Yaneva of Bulgaria.
"I'm elated," said Nelson, who finished the tournament with two shutouts, a technical fall and fall. "I'm so happy right now. But first and foremost all the glory goes to God. Without Him, without my faith I would not be here."
In the gold-medal match, the 19-year-old American scored off a single leg attack just over 30 seconds into the match to take a 2-0 lead. The score stayed that way for the next four and a half minutes. With just over a minute remaining, Nelson shot a double leg, which she converted for a four-point takedown on the edge of the mat to extend her lead to 6-0. The two wrestlers battled for the next minute, but neither wrestler could score, giving Nelson the six-point victory and gold medal.
"Once I got my hands on her and I snapped her down the first time, I was like, 'I got this,'" said Nelson, who trains at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. "I moved her around and I got my offense off so that was exciting for me."
Nelson, a runner-up at the U.S. Open, becomes the first Junior world champion in women's wrestling for America since Victoria Anthony won her second consecutive world title in 2010.
In 2014, Nelson became the first high school girl in Colorado state history both to qualify for big-school state competition and win a match. She qualified the next year in 2015 as well.
Nelson's run to gold on Friday comes a day after Asia Ray won a bronze medal at 44 kilograms on the first day of the women's wrestling competition.
Nelson was the lone American to reach a medal match on the final day of women's wrestling. Three other Americans, McKayla Campbell (48 kilograms), Ronna Heaton (55 kilograms) and Rachel Watters (72 kilograms), were eliminated in Friday's opening session.
Japan ran away with the team title in women's wrestling, winning four of the eight gold medals, outdistancing second-place Russia by 19 points. USA finished fifth in the team standings.
The U.S. has now won nine medals, including four golds, over the first four days of the Junior World Championships, which includes freestyle and women's wrestling competition. Greco-Roman wrestling is scheduled to begin on Saturday at 10 a.m. local time in Finland, 3 a.m. ET. Cevion Severado (50 kilograms), Taylor LaMont (60 kilograms), Kamal Bey (74 kilograms) and G'Angelo Hancock (96 kilograms) will compete for the Americans.
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