Fernandez Makes History as US Women Win Team Title at U17 World Championships

History was made on Friday in Baku, Azerbaijan, as the United States U17 women’s freestyle team captured its second team title in the history of the event. Also, Taina Fernandez joined an elite group of three-time U17 world champions.

In the final match of the women’s tournament, Fernandez closed out the tournament in style. Just like her previous three opponents, Turkiye’s Kiymet Tezcan did not make it out of the first period in their 69 kg gold medal match. Fernandez and Tezcan spent the bulk of the 1:26 of mat time hand fighting and getting a feel for one another. Once Fernandez saw an opportunity, she seized it with a leg attack.

Fernandez never let go of Tezcan’s leg and found herself in a perfect position for a cradle. The official only needed a few seconds after the cradle was applied to call for the fall.

With that, Fernandez got her third title in dominant fashion. All four of her bouts in this tournament ended via first-period falls and her total mat time was less than five minutes combined.

Fernandez previously won gold medals at the 2024 and 2025 U17 World Championships at 61 kg.

The third U17 world title puts Fernandez into elite company. She is only the fourth wrestler to win three U17 gold medals and the first non-Japanese wrestler to accomplish the feat.

Fernandez wasn’t the only American to cruise in the world finals - at 53 kg, Marlee Solomon did so to claim a title of her own.

Solomon and India’s Akshara were scoreless for most of the opening period, that is until Solomon got into a front headlock position and hustled to a takedown. During the same sequence, Solomon locked up an arm bar and used it to expose her opponent twice, taking a 6-0 lead into the break.

After the break, Solomon kept the pressure on and got in deep on a sweep single. As she was attempting to finish at the edge of the mat, Akshara turned into her and Solomon drove her to her back for four points, ending the bout via technical superiority. The Indian corner challenged the sequence, but lost, making the final score, 11-0

With Solomon and Fernandez winning gold medals, the women’s team finished the tournament with four world champions.

That wasn’t it for the women either, as Sophia Valdez (40 kg) and Madison Healey (46 kg) both dominated in bronze medal matches. For Healey, it was her second consecutive year with a U17 medal.

In addition, Landri Von Gonten advanced to the gold medal match at 61 kg. She ran into Turkiye’s Ozdenur Ozmez and fell via tech, 10-0. Von Gonten had to settle for a silver medal.

All in all, eight of the ten members of the women’s team will come home with hardware. Four golds, one silver, and three bronze medals. The United States (167 points) finished ahead of second-place India (132) and Japan (126) to win its first title since 2021.

While the US women finished their tournament on Friday, the men’s freestyle competition got underway with five weights.

It was a bit of a rough day for the men’s freestyle team as only Chase Karenbauer, at 55 kg, advanced to the semifinals. In the semis, Karenbauer tangled with Colombia’s Jovanni Tovar - who wrestles in high school in the United States. After a challenge went against a Karenbauer takedown, it was all Tovar, who ended the bout in the opening period, 10-0.

Karenbauer drops into a bronze medal match and will have to await an opponent to emerge from repechage. There will be two rounds of competition before the medal round matches.

The only other American from this group still in medal contention is Kooper Deputy at 48 kg. Deputy won a match before falling to an Indian opponent in the quarterfinals. He’ll need two wins to come home with a bronze medal.

 

Friday’s Results

Women’s Freestyle

40 kg

Gold Medal Match: Natsumi Sasaki (Japan) over Tasmin Athimni (Tunisia)  10-0

Bronze Medal Match: Sophia Valdez over Rohini Devba (India)  9-0

Bronze Medal Match: Sirin Askara (Turkiye) over Gulkhanim Shirinova (Azerbaijan)  12-4

46 kg

Repechage: Madison Healey over Mungunchimeg Gavaa (Mongolia)  10-0

Gold Medal Match: Kokona Makino (Japan) over Sandhya Vishnoi (India)  Fall 3:53

Bronze Medal Match: Madison Healey over Vivien Szentpal (Hungary)  10-0

Bronze Medal Match: Inzhu Bakkozha (Kazakhstan) over Alina Baranova (Russia)  8-2

53 kg

Gold Medal Match: Marlee Solomon over Akshara (India)  11-0

Bronze Medal Match: Mariia Zhytovoz (Hungary) over Alejandra Roa (Colombia)  11-0

Bronze Medal Match: Rion Ogawa (Japan) over Valeria Stancheva (Bulgaria)  10-0

61 kg

Gold Medal Match: Ozdenur Ozmez (Turkiye) over Landri Von Gonten  10-0

Bronze Medal Match: Graciela Eningo Asama (Spain) over Surae Abbassoy (Finland)  Fall :52

Bronze Medal Match: Avanshika (India) over Aruzhan Bakytnur (Kazakhstan)  5-1

69 kg

Gold Medal Matchup: Taina Fernandez over Kiymet Tezcan (Turkiye)  Fall 1:26

Men’s Freestyle

48 kg

Round of 16: Kooper Deputy over Bogdan Sapojnic (Germany)  12-0

Quarterfinals: Aaryan (India) over Kooper Deputy  10-7

Repechage Matchup: Kooper Deputy vs. Amirali Ragheb Faz (Iran)/Huseyn Rzazade (Azerbaijan)

Gold Medal Matchup: Aaryan (India) vs. Bakdaulet Agabek (Kazakhstan)

55 kg

Round of 32: Chase Karenbauer over Valentin Deleanu (Moldova)  10-0

Round of 16: Chase Karenbauer over Kyosuke Ikeda (Japan)  6-4

Quarterfinals: Chase Karenbauer over Mukhammadiasin Izzatillaev (Kyrgyzstan)  11-4

Semifinals: Jovanni Tovar (Colombia) over Chase Karenbauer  10-0

Gold Medal Matchup: Jovanni Tovar (Colombia) vs. Jakhongir Tulkunov (Uzbekistan)

65 kg

Round of 32: Arseni Kikiniou over Bidzina Jintcharadze (Georgia)  7-0

Round of 16: Jovani Solis (Puerto Rico) over Arseni Kikiniou  6-1

Gold Medal Matchup: Shokhiddin Aliev (Uzbekistan) vs. Magomed Ibragimov (Russia)

80 kg

Round of 32: Ayubjon Bozorzoda (Tajikistan) over Jayden O’Farrill  8-6

Gold Medal Matchup: Amirali Ferasati (Iran) vs. Zeteny Tugyi (Hungary)

110 kg

Round of 16: Murtaz Bagdavadze (Georgia) over Peter Mocco  3-0

Gold Medal Matchup: Magomed Omarov (Russia) vs. Amirhossein Esmali (Iran)