Elison and Manuel Win U17 World Titles

The first day with nothing but women’s freestyle action was a great one for the United States! We went two-for-two in gold medal matches and three-for-three in semifinals action; not to mention good results from repechage.

From the first group of competitors, Epenesa Elison (57 kg) and Kaili Manuel (76 kg) both came away with gold medals and made it look easy with dominating wins.

Elison wasted no time setting the tone in her bout with India’s Nikita Sehrawat. She didn’t even need ten seconds to complete her first takedown. Later in the opening period, after finishing her third takedown of the match, Sehrawat was sitting on her hip rather than bellying out. Elison took advantage of the situation with a half nelson and needed about :15 seconds to secure the fall.

With her win, Elison becomes a two-time U17 world medalist. She earned a silver medal last year. Ellison’s victory ensured that the United States would have at least one world champion in women’s freestyle for the fourth straight year.

That number would get pushed to two a couple of matches later as Manuel followed suit in her gold medal contest versus Ukraine’s Solomiia Petriv. Manuel methodically took Petriv apart, point by point, with three scores from step-outs and one from an activity clock violation in the first period.

It was more of the same in the second period for Manuel, who piled on with two more step-outs before getting a pair of points for exposure. She would go on to win, 8-1.

Manuel earns her first U17 world medal in her second appearance on the team.

At 49 kg, Isla Silva won a pair of matches to secure a bronze medal. In the medal match, Silva was trailing Kazakhstan’s Ayanat Meinambay by a point with under :20 seconds left in the bout when she tried a lateral drop. Meinambay tried to counter with a headlock, a position from which Silva was able to work her head free from and spin for a takedown and two points. Just for good measure, Silva used a leg lace for an additional two points before the buzzer. She would win by a 6-3 final score.

From the women who started the tournament on Thursday, Taina Fernandez was incredibly dominant on her way to the 69 kg finals. Fernandez spent less than three and a half minutes on the mat across her three matches, all first-period falls.

For now, all that stands between Fernandez and her third U17 title is Turkiye’s Kiymet Tezcan.

Marlee Solomon (53 kg) and Landri Van Gonten (61 kg) also advanced to gold medal matches on Friday. Van Gonten was locked up in a back-and-forth affair with Kazakhstan’s Aruzhan Bakytnur and had to pull out some late heroics for the win. With under :30 seconds left in the bout, Bakytnur took Van Gonten down to lead 5-4. Bakytnur looked to increase that lead with a leg lace; however, Van Gonten was able to counter and expose Bakytnur to inch ahead 6-5. The Kazakh corner challenged a ruling in the closing seconds, and lost, to make the final score 7-5.

Solomon didn’t need the dramatic finish in her bout with Colombia’s Alejandra Roa. She scored early and often before ending the match with a second-period fall.

Sophia Valdez (40 kg) and Madison Healey (46 kg) are still in medal contention. Valdez fell in the semifinals and drops to a bronze medal match. Healey win need a repechage win before wrestling for the bronze.

In addition to Friday’s medal round matches, the men’s freestyle portion of the tournament will get underway.

Thursday’s Results

40 kg

Round of 16: Sophia Valdez over Aiaru Iliyas (Kazakhstan)  10-0

Quarterfinals: Sophia Valdez over Zaytuna Saparova (Uzbekistan)  Fall 3:42

Semifinals: Natsumi Sasaki (Japan) over Sophia Valdez  4-2

Gold Medal Matchup: Natsumi Sasaki (Japan) vs. Tasmin Athimni (Tunisia)

Bronze Medal Matchup: Sophia Valdez vs. Rohini Devba (India)

43 kg

Repechage: Sera Furuichi (Japan) over Suzannah Lundy  Fall 1:17

Gold Medal Match: Mukhlisa Masharipova (Uzbekistan) overFinja Strauch (Germany)  4-1

Bronze Medal Match: Sera Furuichi (Japan) over Maya Naicker (Canada)  10-0

Bronze Medal Match: Daria Maslennikova (Russia) over Tola Rudnik (Poland)  10-0

46 kg

Round of 16: Madison Healey over Gulnoza Zakirdjanova (Uzbekistan)  Fall 1:36

Quarterfinals: Kokona Makino (Japan) over Madison Healey  8-2

Gold Medal Matchup: Kokona Makino (Japan) vs. Sandhya Vishnoi (India)

Repechage Matchup: Madison Healey vs. Mungunchimeg Gavaa (Mongolia)

49 kg

Repechage: Isla Silva over Aiana Asylbekova (Kyrgyzstan)  Fall 1:54

Gold Medal Match: Saika Uchida (Japan) over Olena Kolubai (Ukraine)  12-2

Bronze Medal Match: Isla Silva over Ayanat Meinambay (Kazakhstan)  6-3

Bronze Medal Match: Kamna Babal (India) over Irina Tsydeeva (Russia)  3-2

53 kg 

Round of 16: Marlee Solomon over Mariia Zhytovoz (Hungary)  5-4

Quarterfinals: Marlee Solomon over Fatima Bayramova (Azerbaijan)  Fall 3:06

Semifinals: Marlee Solomon over Alejandra Roa (Colombia)  Fall 3:33

Gold Medal Matchup: Marlee Solomon vs. Akshara (India)

57 kg

Gold Medal Match: Epenesa Elison over Nikita Sehrawat (India)  Fall 1:36

Bronze Medal Match: Rion Suzuki (Japan) over Gurleen Dhillon (Canada)  10-0

Bronze Medal Match: Mariia Poltorak (Ukraine) over Su Soyalp (Turkiye)  4-2

61 kg

Round of 32: Landri Von Gonten over Avanshika (India)  Fall 2:26

Round of 16: Landri Von Gonten over Marisa Iturrino (Puerto Rico)  10-0

Quarterfinals: Landri Von Gonten over Kamila Temiraeva (Russia)  8-6

Semifinals: Landri Von Gonten over Aruzhan Bakytnur (Kazakhstan)  8-6

Gold Medal Matchup: Landri Von Gonten vs. Ozdenur Ozmez (Turkiye)

65 kg

Repechage: Eve Skrocki over Szonja Veres (Hungary)  4-2

Repechage #2: Margarita Listia (Moldova) over Eve Skrocki  11-0

Gold Medal Match: Ariunzul Boldbaatar (Mongolia) over Aisha Abdimalik (Kazakhstan)  4-0

Bronze Medal Match: Margarita Listia (Moldova) over Vasiliki Karavanou (Greece)  5-0

Bronze Medal Match: Palina Brahinets (Belarus) over Iryna Bukhtina (Ukraine)  11-0

69 kg

Round of 16: Taina Fernandez over Taniya (India)  Fall 1:46

Quarterfinals: Taina Fernandez over Sophia Anastase (Romania)  Fall 1:03

Semifinals: Taina Fernandez over Maja Wejchan (Poland)  Fall :32

Gold Medal Matchup: Taina Fernandez vs. Kiymet Tezcan (Turkiye)

73 kg

Gold Medal Match: Kaili Manuel over Solomiia Petriv (Ukraine)  8-1

Bronze Medal Match: Garima (India) over Paula Benaixa Perez (Spain)  10-0

Bronze Medal Match: Aisha Williams Bautista (Panama) over Bianka Barany Almasi (Hungary)  Fall 1:03