Turner and Fowler Advance to U17 World Finals in Women's Freestyle

Wednesday at the U17 World Championships marked the first day of competition in women’s freestyle. The United States had a strong showing that resulted in a pair of young women in tomorrow’s finals. A third will be competing in a bronze medal match. The 2022 women’s team featured three medalists (all silver’s) a number that was almost achieved with only the first five competitors wrestling on day one. 

In addition, the Greco-Roman portion of the competition wrapped up; though the American team did not have any wrestlers remaining in medal contention. The US Greco squad finished in ninth place on the strength of a gold medal showing from Jordyn Raney at 55 kg. 

Illinois native Morgan Turner was the first American to make the finals after a 4-2 victory over Nilufar Nurmukhammadova (Uzbekistan). Turner wasted little time in the first period, as she jumped out to an early lead on the strength of a takedown off of a blast double leg. She’d add to her lead a short time later after exposing Nurmukhammadova during a low leg attack. 

In the second period, Turner was close to securing a second takedown on two occasions, but was narrowly stopped by Nurmukhammadova. The Uzbek woman got on the scoreboard with a pair of points off of exposure that could have gone Turner’s way. Nurmukhammadova continued to push for a winning score during the closing seconds but was stonewalled by Turner. 

Prior to the semifinals, Turner notched a pair of 10-0 tech’s. 

Tomorrow’s gold medal matchup will feature Turner taking on Japan’s Mona Ezaka, a 2022 U17 World silver medalist at 40 kg. Also in 2022, Ezaka earned a silver medal at the Asian U20 Championships. 

The second finalist for the United States is Tennessee’s Piper Fowler at 73 kg. Fowler pitched a pair of shutouts in her first two wins, before meeting Aliaksandra Kazlova (Belarus - Individual Neutral Athlete) in the semifinals. Tied at two after a period, yet trailing on criteria, Fowler got to work early in the second with a double leg at the edge for four points. At the one-minute mark, Fowler got another takedown, this time off of a sucker drag. During the last :20 seconds, Fowler withstood a barrage of headlock attempts from Kazlova’s, getting a takedown on the final attack. That made the final score 10-2 in Fowler’s favor. 

Fowler will meet Germany’s Lotta Englich in Thursday’s gold medal match. Englich was a bronze medal winner at the U17 European and World Championships last year. Earlier in 2023, Englich was fifth in Europe. 

The final American wrestling for a medal tomorrow is Indiana’s Heather Crull at 49 kg. Crull had a tech and a 13-8 victory in the quarterfinals before falling to Sviatlana Katenka (Belarus - Individual Neutral Athlete) 10-1 in the semifinals. 

Crull’s bronze medal opponent has already been determined. She’ll square off with Lonisa Reka (Kosovo). Reka was eighth at the U17 European Championships earlier this year. 

Everest Leydecker (57 kg) and May Prado (65 kg) both had the misfortune of losing to quality opponents, who later fell to the Japanese entrant at their respective weights, which eliminated them. 

Medal Round Match (Greco-Roman)

45 kg

Gold Medal Match - Turan Dashdamirov (Azerbaijan) over Rustem Abatsiev (Russia - Individual Neutral Athlete)  5-4

Bronze Medal Match - Alireza Amirighasroddashti (Iran) over Kadyrbek Almanbetov (Kyrgyzstan)  5-1

Bronze Medal Match - Yurik Mkhitaryan (Armenia) over Nika Tsetskhladze (Georgia)  9-0
 

51 kg

Gold Medal Match - Ilia Kandalin (Russia - Individual Neutral Athlete) over Artur Broyan (Armenia)  9-0

Bronze Medal Match - Manu Yadav (India) over Husniddin Ulugbekov (Turkmenistan)  9-0

Bronze Medal Match - Koba Karumidze (Georgia) over Dostonbek Oripov (Uzbekistan)  3-1

60 kg

Gold Medal Match - Roman Karimov (Azerbaijan) over Saba Surmanidze (Georgia)  4-3

Bronze Medal Match - Mingiian Goriaev (Russia - Individual Neutral Athlete) over Varun (India)  15-6

Bronze Medal Match - Kiryl Valeuski (Belarus - Individual Neutral Athlete) Yerdaulet Lassim (Kazakhstan)  12-8

71 kg 

Gold Medal Match - Arionas Kolitsopoulos (Greece) over Ahmadreza Mohamdian (Iran)  6-5

Bronze Medal Match - Abdurakhman Abdulkadyrov (Russia - Individual Neutral Athlete) over Dias Seitkaliyev (Kazakhstan)  10-0

Bronze Medal Match - Alkan Akar (Turkey) over Luka Lomadze (Georgia)  5-1
 

92 kg

Gold Medal Match - Saba Purtseladze (Georgia) over Saipula Gadzhimagomedov (Russia - Individual Neutral Athlete)  7-7

Bronze Medal Match - Gabriel Stan (Romania) over Maxim Ukraintsev (Kazakhstan)  9-0

Bronze Medal Match - Mikayil Ismayilov (Azerbaijan) over Aliakbar Asgharivaladi (Iran)  3-1

USA Results

Women’s Freestyle

43 kg

Qualification: Morgan Turner (USA) over Saadat Guliyev (Azerbaijan)  10-0

Quarterfinals: Morgan Turner (USA) over Alina Mazharouskaya (Belarus - Individual Neutral Athlete)  10-0

Semifinals: Morgan Turner (USA) over Nilufar Nurmukhammadova (Uzbekistan)  4-2

Gold Medal Match: Morgan Turner (USA) vs. Mona Ezaka (Japan)

49 kg

Qualification: Heather Crull (USA) over Nik Aktas (Turkey)  10-0

Quarterfinals: Heather Crull (USA) over Lucja Korcz (Poland)  13-8

Semifinals: Sviatlana Katenka (Belarus - Individual Neutral Athlete) over Heather Crull (USA)  10-1

Bronze Medal Match: Heather Crull (USA) over Lonisa Reka (Kosovo)
 

57 kg

Qualification: Neha (India) over Everest Leydecker (USA)  5-0

65 kg

Round of 16: Mukhayyo Rakhimjonova (Uzbekistan) over May Prado (USA)  8-0
 

73 kg

Round of 16: Piper Fowler (USA) over Ako Uchiyama (Japan)  6-0

Quarterfinals: Piper Fowler (USA) over Laia Horta Gallardo (Spain)  13-0

Semifinals: Piper Fowler (USA) over Aliaksandra Kazlova (Belarus - Individual Neutral Athlete)  10-2

Gold Medal Match: Piper Fowler (USA) vs. Lotta Englich (Germany)