Elor Completes Second Title Trifecta

On the final day of women’s competition at the 2023 U23 World Championships, Amit Elor was able to add to both her legacy and medal collection. Legacy is a strange word to use for a young woman who competed at the U20 World Championships earlier this year, but Elor continues to rewrite the history books for USA Wrestling. 

Elor’s finals victory today gave her titles at the U20, U23, and Senior World Championships for a second consecutive year. In 2022, Elor was the first American to win all three events in the same year, so she’s obviously the only one to achieve the feat twice. Elor now has eight world titles after counting the U17 and U20 gold medals she captured in 2021. 

Not only has Elor made history, but she has done so in an utterly dominant fashion. Today’s gold medal match was similar to her first two matches of the tournament. Within the first ten seconds of the bout, Elor got a takedown off of a snapdown and spin. She then proceeded to get an ankle lace and turned Jyoti Berwal (India) four times for a quick 10-0 victory at 72 kg. Like 22 seconds quick! 

Elor’s semifinal match was the only one that went the full six minutes and it was still a 5-0 shutout. In her three remaining matches, Elor was only on the mat for :57 seconds combined! In her four matches, Elor did not surrender a single point. 

In addition to Elor, teammates Xochitl Mota-Pettis (57 kg) and Macey Kilty (65 kg) both wrestled for bronze medals. Ultimately, each would come up one point shy of earning bronze. Mota-Pettis and Elvira Kamaloglu (Turkey) both exchanged points for a shot-clock violation, with the American getting her point in the first period. The decisive sequence occurred in the waning seconds of the bout as Mota-Pettis snapped Kamaloglu down and rolled her through for exposure. Both athletes were given exposure points; however, Kamaloglu’s occurred last, giving her criteria. The American corner challenged the ruling; however, the challenge was lost giving Kamaloglu an extra point for the 4-3 victory. 

Kilty also had an Indian opponent, Monika, who got on the scoreboard first as she shot a double leg at the edge and forced Kilty to step out of bounds. Later in the first, Kilty overextended herself going for a trip and stepped into a leg attack from Monika, who would lead 3-0 at the break. 

In the second period, Kilty was finally able to get some offense going as she nimbly stepped along the edge of the circle, avoiding a throw out of bounds from Monika, and jumped behind her opponent for a takedown. On the ensuing restart, Kilty hit a picture-esque swing single and, after a long fight, was able to convert for a takedown that pushed her ahead 4-3. 

With under :40 seconds remaining in the bout, Monika got to a single of her own. Kilty attempted to roll through and expose Monika; however, she was caught on her back. Those two points ended up deciding the bout, 5-4 in favor of Monika. 

The American women finished in fourth place with three medals. 

Friday also marked the first day of Greco-Roman competition. None of the American contingent made it to the finals. Tyler Eischens, at 82 kg, was the lone American to win multiple matches on the day. He notched a fall in his first bout and a 10-3 victory over Branko Kovacevic (Serbia) in the Round of 16. 

The only American from today’s competition who is alive in repechage is Robert Perez III at 67 kg. Perez III suffered a 2-0 loss to Turkey’s Mustafa Yildrim, who later went on to make the finals. Perez III will need to win two repechage bouts in order to wrestle for a bronze medal. His battle back starts with a bout against India’s Umesh.