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The queen is back in her rightful place! Helen Maroulis climbed to the top of the World Championship podium for the fourth time in her illustrious career on Wednesday afternoon. She was one of two American women’s freestyle wrestlers to claim medals today in Zagreb, Croatia. Yesterday, we remarked on Maroulis’ dominant run to the gold medal match. She pinned all three of her opponents, two of which came in the opening period. The 57 kg gold medal bout was different. This contest saw her and North Korea’s Il Sim Son handfight and take little risk for much of the first four minutes of the bout. The North Korean held the lead. Both wrestlers earned points from the activity clock expiring on their opponents; however, Son was the last wrestler to receive a point and held criteria. Son got ahead on the scoreboard with about :90 seconds remaining in the bout when she forced Maroulis to step out. Once the match hit the one-minute mark, Maroulis turned up her attack rate and intensity. Son was still able to deny the American and hold her position for most of those 90 seconds. At the :20 mark, Maroulis nearly got to a single leg off of a reshot. After the pair got back to their feet, with time ticking down, Maroulis resorted to an inside trip, grabbed a leg, and hustled around the back of Son to secure the takedown with less than five seconds on the clock. Maroulis now has five gold medals combined from the Olympic/World Championships and 11 total. Her first world medal was a silver in 2012. Her first Senior world team appearance was in 2008. This is her first world championship since 2021. Win or lose, Maroulis’ status as an all-time great in USA Wrestling was already cemented. The win just continued to build her legacy. At this point, we can have the “Greatest of All-Time” discussion, between her and six-time world champion Adeline Gray. At the other end of the spectrum, someone at the beginning of a promising career is the other medalist on the day, Kylie Welker at 76 kg. Welker was obviously still upset about her quarterfinal loss and took it out on Ukraine’s Anastasiya Alpyeyeva. The American jumped out to a quick lead with a takedown via a single leg and a gut wrench for two exposure points. In the second period, Alpyeyeva got on the board with two step-out points and looked like she might seize control of the match. Those thoughts were quashed as Welker side-stepped an Alpyeyeva leg attack and spun for an insurance takedown. Shortly after the takedown, time expired and Welker was the winner, 6-2. With her win, Welker claimed bronze medals in back-to-back World Championships. In 2024, Welker was a bronze medalist at the non-Olympic World Championships competing at 72 kg. Also wrestling for a bronze medal on Wednesday was Welker’s Iowa teammate, Macey Kilty. Kilty dropped a tight, 4-2 match to Mongolia’s Enkhjin Tuvshinjargal to finish fifth at the 65 kg weight class. One American woman will be in action on Thursday as Kennedy Blades is alive in the 68 kg repechage. Blades was stunned in the quarterfinals by Japan’s Ami Ishii, 12-1. She will need to win two matches tomorrow to come away with a bronze medal. In addition to Blades, the Greco-Roman competition will get underway and four weight classes will be contested. Jayden Raney (55 kg), Kamal Bey (77 kg), Beka Melelashvili (82 kg), and Cohlton Schultz (130 kg) take the mat tomorrow. Women’s Freestyle 53 kg Round of 32: Jin Zhang (China) over Felicity Taylor 10-0 57 kg Gold Medal Match: Helen Maroulis over Il Sim Son (North Korea) 3-2 62 kg Round of 32: Adaugo Nwachukwu over Selvi Ilyasoglu (Turkey) 7-3 Round of 16: Adaugo Nwachukwu over Johanna Lindborg (Sweden) 13-6 Quarterfinals: Orkhon Purevdorj (Mongolia) over Adaugo Nwachukwu 5-2 65 kg Repechage: Macey Kilty over Grace Bullen (Norway) Fall 4:38 Bronze Medal Matchup: Enkhjin Tuvshinjargal (Mongolia) over Macey Kilty 4-2 68 kg Round of 16: Kennedy Blades over Radhika Jaglan (India) 11-0 Quarterfinals: Ami Ishii (Japan) over Kennedy Blades 12-1 72 kg Round of 32: Alex Glaude over Svetlana Oknazarova (Uzbekistan) Fall 3:30 Round of 16: Alex Glaude over Masako Furuichi (Japan) 3-2 Quarterfinals: Nurzat Nurtaeva (Azerbaijan) over Alex Glaude 8-4 76 kg Repechage: Kylie Welker over Elmira Yasin (Turkiye) 10-0 Bronze Medal Matchup: Kylie Welker over Anastasiya Alpyeyeva (Ukraine) 6-2 Final Results 50 kg Gold Medal Match: Myonggyong Won (North Korea) over Yu Zhang (China) 8-2 Bronze Medal Match: Elizaveta Smirnova (UWW - Russia) over Remina Yoshimoto (Japan) 3-3 Bronze Medal Match: Evin Demirhan (Turkiye) over Munkhnar Byambasuren (Mongolia) 3-2 57 kg Gold Medal Match: Helen Maroulis (USA) over Il Sim Son (North Korea) 3-2 Bronze Medal Match: Olga Khoroshavtseva (UWW - Russia) over Himeka Tokuhara (Japan) 4-1 Bronze Medal Match: Kexin Hong (China) over Iryna Kurachkina (UWW - Belarus) 10-0 65 kg Gold Medal Match: Miwa Morikawa (Japan) over Alina Kasabieva (UWW - Russia) 8-0 Bronze Medal Match: Irina Ringaci (Moldova) over Iryna Koliadenko (Ukraine) 6-3 Bronze Medal Match: Enkhjin Tuvshinjargal (Mongolia) over Macey Kilty (USA) 4-2 76 kg Gold Medal Match: Genesis Reasco Valdez (Ecuador) over Aiperi Medet Kyzy (Kyrgyzstan) 4-2 Bronze Medal Match: Kylie Welker (USA) over Anastasiya Alpyeyeva (Ukraine) 6-2 Bronze Medal Match: Milaimys Marin Potrille (Cuba) over Priya Malik (India) 10-0 Thursday’s Gold Medal Matches 53 kg: Lucia Yepez Guzman (Ecuador) vs. Haruna Okuno (Japan) 62 kg: Sakura Motoki (Japan) vs. Ok Ju Kim (North Korea) 68 kg: Ami Ishii (Japan) vs. Yuliana Yaneva (Bulgaria) 72 kg: Alla Belinska (Ukraine) vs. Nesrin Bas (Turkiye)