U.S. wrestlers continued their impressive performance at the world championships, securing three additional medals on Tuesday to bring their total to nine over the course of three days. Jakara Winchester earned a silver medal, while Jennifer Page and Kyle Snyder both took home bronze medals. Moreover, Macy Quilty is set to win a medal in the 65kg gold medal competition on Wednesday.
Unfortunately, Winchester faced defeat in the women’s 55kg final against Japan’s Haruna Okuno, with a final score of 4-2. Although Winchester had previously won the world title in the 55kg weight class in 2019, this championship does not determine Olympic weights. In preparation for the Olympic trials in April, Winchester is planning to reduce her weight to either 53kg or 57kg. She had previously succeeded in dropping her weight to 53kg four years ago, winning the Olympic trials but narrowly missing out on a bronze medal in the Tokyo Games.
In her senior world debut at the age of 30, Jennifer Page triumphed in the bronze medal match against Azerbaijan’s Alyona Kolesnik in the 59kg weight category. Notably, this weight class is also not her Olympic weight. For Olympic selection, Page is expected to drop to either 57kg or even 62kg. In the previous Olympic Trials, she weighed in at 62kg and secured a third-place finish.
Kyle Snyder showcased his dominance in the 97kg weight class, earning his seventh consecutive world championship medal. However, his bronze medal opponent, Russia’s Abdulrashid Saadulaev, withdrew from the match due to a prior injury. Saadulaev, a renowned wrestler with eight Olympic or world titles, had suffered defeat in the earlier rounds against Akhmed Tazhdinov, who represents Bahrain but was previously a Russian wrestler. As the reigning world medalist, Snyder automatically qualified for the Olympic selection finals in April.
While three of the most accomplished female wrestlers from the United States experienced losses on Tuesday, they still have the opportunity to compete for bronze medals on Wednesday. Helen Maroulis, who made history as the first American woman to win an Olympic wrestling gold medal in 2016, faced a defeat of 6-0 against Japan’s Tsugumi Sakurai in the semifinals, a rematch of last year’s 57kg class final.
In a similar vein, Adeline Gray, a six-time world champion, suffered a 4-1 loss to Japan’s Miyuka Kagami in the quarterfinals of the 76kg weight class. Since Kagami advanced to the finals, Gray has been given another chance for a medal in the repechage round. Additionally, Sarah Hildebrandt had hoped for a showdown against Japan’s Yui Sasaki, a four-time world champion, in the final of the 50kg class. However, Hildebrandt was defeated 7-5 in the semifinals by Mongolia’s Dolgorjabin Otgonjargal, thus contesting for the bronze medal.