Wax Wins U17 Gold; Elison and Manuel Make Women's Finals

Competition in the Greco-Roman discipline wrapped up on Wednesday at the U17 World Championships and the American team finished in style. In addition, the women’s freestyle tournament got underway. All five women who took the mat for the American squad are still in medal contention, with a pair earning a finals berth. 

Focusing on the Greco action, the 45 kg representative, Rylen Wax, fell behind Azerbaijan’s Ali Javadli 5-0 within the first minute of their gold medal matchup. Despite the early deficit, Wax maintained his composure and battled back in a big way. From the opening whistle in the second period, Wax was high energy and controlled the center of the mat. As a result, Javad was called for passivity and Wax was given a point and allowed to work from par terre. 

On the ensuing restart from par terre, Wax locked up a trapped-arm gut wrench and turned Javadli six times to suddenly end the match via 13-5 tech. 

Wax’s World Championship run is not done. He’ll represent the United States in freestyle, as well. 

With Wax’s win, the US U17 Greco-Roman team has had world champions in three of the last four years. He is also the first American to win a Greco medal at the lightest weight class since Cade Olivas took bronze in 2013. Wax and Bruno Pallone (silver) became the first American teammates to make the U17 Greco world finals since the tournament was reinstated in 2011. 

The only other Greco wrestler in action on Wednesday was Will Etu at 92 kg. Etu gave up a late takedown to Iran’s Amirreza Mehritalarposhti to lose 4-3 in his repechage bout. 

The women’s freestyle team got off to a great start with Epenesa Elison (57 kg) and Kaili Manuel (72 kg) both making Thursday’s gold medal match. Neither is a stranger to the world stage. Elison was a silver medalist at this tournament last year and Manuel was on the 2024 squad, but did not medal. 

Elison’s first match proved to be her toughest and was the only that went the full six minutes. She defeated former U15 Asian champion Rion Suzuki, 8-2. From there, Elison cruised to the finals with two techs and a first period fall. 

For the gold medal, Elison will face India’s Nikita Sehrawat. 

Manuel got to the finals on the strength of a win over an Indian opponent. She jumped out to a 7-0 lead on Garima and was able to withstand a late surge to prevail, 7-5. 

Suzannah Lundy (43 kg), Isla Silva (49 kg), Eve Skrocki (65 kg), are all alive in repechage. Lundy and Silva both will need to win two matches to earn a bronze medal. Skrocki will need to win three. 

Wednesday’s Results

Greco-Roman

45 kg

Gold Medal Match: Rylen Wax over Ali Javadli (Azerbaijan)  13-5

Bronze Medal Match: Arsan Aliev (Russia) over Afruzbek Ibragimov (Uzbekistan)  10-0

Bronze Medal Match: Ognyan Burgazov (Bulgaria) over Armin Esmaeli (Iran)  FFT

51 kg

Gold Medal Matchup: Bunyod Hasanov (Uzbekistan) over Abdurrahman Huseynli (Azerbaijan)  9-0

Bronze Medal Match: Artem Tkachenko (Russia) over Vadim Tarelunga (Moldova)  7-5

Bronze Medal Match: Gevorg Harutunyan (Armenia) over Saba Abashidze (Georgia)  5-0

60 kg

Gold Medal Matchup: Amirreza Tahmasbpourm (Iran) over Makhdi Barotov (Tajikistan)  8-6

Bronze Medal Match: Elmir Charkazov (Azerbaijan) over Hinata Hanamori (Japan)  9-0

Bronze Medal Match: Sadriddin Tulkinboev (Uzbekistan) over Alexandru Lungu (Romania)  10-2

71 kg

Gold Medal Matchup: Janes Nazaryan (Armenia) over Aslan Dzuev (Russia)  4-3

Bronze Medal Match: Ervin Czuczor (Hungary) over Kristiyan Krastev (Bulgaria)  5-1

Bronze Medal Match: Alinur Toleugali (Kazakhstan) over Esmaeil Zaherdoust (Iran)  11-3

92 kg

Repechage: Amirreza Mehritalarposhti (Iran) over Will Etu  4-3

Gold Medal Matchup: Tomasz Mital (Poland) over Hlib Yevsieiev (Ukraine)  3-2

Bronze Medal Match: Amirreza Mehritalarposhti (Iran) over Mirjalol Shovkatov (Uzbekistan)  4-3

Bronze Medal Match: Yusuf Aksu (Turkiye) over Sandor Antaly (Hungary)  5-1

Women’s Freestyle

43 kg

Round of 16: Mukhlisa Masharipova (Uzbekistan) over Suzannah Lundy  Fall 2:48

Repechage Matchup: Suzannah Lundy vs. Sera Furuichi (Japan)

Gold Medal Match: Mukhlisa Masharipova (Uzbekistan) vs. Finja Strauch (Germany)

49 kg

Round of 16: Olena Kolubai (Ukraine) over Isla Silva (USA)  5-3

Repechage Matchup: Isla Silva (USA) vs. Aiana Asylbekova (Kyrgyzstan)  

Gold Medal Match: Olena Kolubai (Ukraine) vs. Saika Uchida (Japan)

57 kg

Round of 32: Epenesa Elison over Rion Suzuki (Japan)  8-2

Round of 16: Epenesa Elison over Nadiia Zholtikova (Spain)  12-2

Quarterfinals: Epenesa Elison over Mia Kovac (Croatia)  10-0

Semifinals: Epenesa Elison over Gurleen Dhillon (Canada)  Fall :30

Gold Medal Match: Epenesa Elison vs. Nikita Sehrawat (India)

65 kg

Round of 16: Aisha Abdimalik (Kazakhstan) over Eve Skrocki  7-6

Repechage Matchup: Eve Skrocki vs. Szonja Veres (Hungary)

Gold Medal Match: Aisha Abdimalik (Kazakhstan) vs. Ariunzul Boldbaatar (Mongolia)

73 kg

Round of 16: Kaili Manuel over Bagzhan Kurmanbay (Kazakhstan)  Fall 3:24

Quarterfinals: Kaili Manuel over Paula Benaixa Perez (Spain)  12-0

Semifinals: Kaili Manuel over Garima (India)  7-5

Gold Medal Match: Kaili Manuel vs. Solomiia Petriv (Ukraine)