Maroulis and Guilford Earn World Bronze Medals; Nwachukwu Into Finals

The queen of American women’s wrestling added to her already-incredible legacy earlier on Wednesday as Helen Maroulis earned her 12th world/Olympic medal at the 2026 Senior World Championships. Maroulis captured a bronze medal in the 57 kg weight class and was joined by teammate, Dymond Guilford, who captured a bronze medal at 76 kg.

Maroulis started the day with a first-period fall over Pan-American rival Luisa Valverde Melendres of Ecuador in the second round of repechage bouts. Holding a 6-0 lead, Maroulis struck on a reattack that took Valverde Melendres directly to her back. After a few moments to readjust her positioning, Maroulis was able to hold Valverde Melendres on her back for the fall.

In the bronze medal bout, Maroulis faced Kazakhstan’s Nilufar Raimova, who came off the whistle with a burst of energy. Maroulis neutralized Raimova and pushed her out for a step-out and an early 1-0 lead. Also in the opening minute, Maroulis was able to counter an arm spin attempt from Raimova into a takedown and a 3-0 advantage. In the second period, Raimova was awarded a caution point and the two traded step out points, with Maroulis getting two and the Kazakh wrestler earning one. That put the final score 5-2 in Maroulis’ favor.

With the 2026 bronze medal, Maroulis has nine medals from Senior World Championship events. This is her 12th world/Olympic medal in 16 tries. Maroulis has come away with hardware from each of the last seven World/Olympic events.

Like Maroulis, Guilford needed to win a repechage bout just to compete for the bronze medal. Guilford’s repechage bout with Belarus’ Anastasiya Zimiankova started off tentatively as bout were encouraged to pick up the pace, but it was the Belarusian who was put on the activity clock. Shortly after the clock expired and Guilford was awarded a point, Zimiankova attempted a headlock, but missed, and Guilford spun for a two-point takedown. After locking up two points, Guilford grabbed a leg lace and turned Ziamiankova four times to end the match with an 11-0 tech fall.

With the bronze medal on the line, and facing Turkiye’s Kadriye Aksoy, Guilford found herself in an early 1-0 hole. That pushed her to get her offense going and Guilford struck with a high-C and switched to a double leg, right to Aksoy’s back. While Aksoy was fighting to avoid the fall, she was cautioned for going out of bounds, bringing Guilford’s lead to 6-1. That’s all the American would need as she went on to claim a 7-2 victory.

The win gives Guilford her first Senior World medal in her second appearance. Guilford also has a U23 world silver medal from 2022.

There is at least one additional medal coming from the crop of women whose tournaments started on Wednesday, potentially more.

At 62 kg, Adaugo Nwachukwu advanced to Thursday’s gold medal match, which clinched her first senior world medal. In order to make that world final, Nwachukwu had to get by 2021 world champion Bilyana Dudova of Bulgaria in the semifinals. With just under a minute remaining in the bout and Nwachukwu leading 1-1 on criteria, the two traded offensive attacks with Nwachukwu converting at the edge for a takedown.

With time running out in the second period and Dudova pushing for a winning score, Nwachukwu was able to deftly avoid the boundary line and sidestepped a Dudova shot attempt for a takedown at the buzzer and a 5-2 victory.

In tomorrow’s final, Nwachukwu will face two-time world champion and Olympic bronze medalist Nonoka Ozaki of Japan.

The women’s team also had two other team members advance to the semifinals, but both fell in that round. Cristelle Rodriguez-Dobler at 53 kg and Precious Wieser at 72 kg. Each will drop down to a bronze medal match and needs a win on Thursday to claim their first senior world medal.

At 68 kg. Kennedy Blades did not advance to the semifinals; however, she was still pulled back into repechage. She’ll need two wins to come away with a bronze medal.

Tomorrow, the final two women’s weight classes will start their tournaments (55 and 59 kg), along with men’s freestyle at (65 and 97 kg).

American results

53 kg

Round of 16: Cristelle Rodriguez-Dobler over Viktoriia Vaulina (Russia)  6-4

Quarterfinals: Cristelle Rodriguez-Dobler over Roksana Zasina (Poland)  1-1

Semifinals: Lucia Yepez Guzman (Ecuador) over Cristelle Rodriguez Dobler  10-0

57 kg

Repechage: Helen Maroulis over Luisa Valverde Melendres (Ecuador)  2:44

Bronze Medal Match: Helen Maroulis over Nilufar Raimova (Kazakhstan)  5-2

62 kg

Round of 16: Adaugo Nwachukwu over Sevim Akbas (Turkiye)  10-0

Quarterfinals: Adaugo Nwachukwu over Sara Lindborg (Sweden)  11-1

Semifinals: Adaugo Nwachukwu over Bilyana Dudova (Bulgaria)  5-2

68 kg

Round of 16: Kennedy Blades over Laura Koehler (Germany)  Fall 1:37

Quarterfinals: Meerim Zhumanazarova (Kyrgyzstan) over Kennedy Blades  Fall 6:00

72 kg

Round of 16: Precious Wieser over Buse Tosun (Tukiye)  9-4

Quarterfinals: Precious Wieser over Nurzat Nurtaeva (Kyrgyzstan)  3-2

Semifinals: Wiktoria Choluj (Poland) over Precious Wieser  Fall 5:38

76 kg

Repechage: Dymond Guilford over Anastasiya Zimiankova (Belarus)  12-0

Bronze Medal Match: Dymond Guilford over Kadriye Aksoy (Turkiye)  7-2

Thursday’s Gold Medal Matchups

53 kg: Lucia Yepez Guzman (Ecuador) vs. Moe Kiyooka (Japan)

62 kg: Adaugo Nwachukwu (USA) vs. Nonoka Ozaki (Japan)

68 kg: Meerim Zhumanazarova (Kyrgyzstan) vs. Jia Long (China)

72 kg: Wiktoria Choluj (Poland) vs. Zelu Li (China)

Final Results

50 kg

Gold Medal Match: Yui Susaki (Japan) over Neelam Sirohi (India)  Fall 2:13

Bronze Medal Match: Zeinep Bayanova (Kazakhstan) over Nataliia Varakina (Belarus)  6-1

Bronze Medal Match: Feng Ziqi (China) over Oksana Livach (Ukraine)  10-0

57 kg

Gold Medal Match: Kexin Hong (China) over Sena Nagamoto (Japan)  10-0

Bronze Medal Match: Iryna Kurachkina (Belarus) over Khulan Batkhuyag (Mongolia)  12-11

Bronze Medal Match: Helen Maroulis (USA) over Nilufar Raimova (Kazakhstan)  5-2

65 kg

Gold Medal Match: Alina Kasabieva (Russia) over Irina Ringaci (Moldova)  6-3

Bronze Medal Match: Nana Ikehata (Japan) over Enkhjin Tuvshinjargal (Mongolia)  9-0

Bronze Medal Match: Yongxin Feng (China) over Solomiia Vynnyk (Ukraine)  11-0

76 kg

Gold Medal Match: Anastasiya Alpyeyeva (Ukraine) over Kajal Dhocak (India)  8-6

Bronze Medal Match: Dymond Guilford (USA) over Kadriye Aksoy (Turkiye)  7-2

Bronze Medal Match: Davaanasan Enkh Amar (Mongolia) over Aiperi Medet Kyzy (Kyrgyzstan)  4-1