Snyder and Miracle Make 2021 World Semifinal, Burkert and Green Hope for Repechage Tomorrow

Kyle Snyder (USA) and Abdulrashid Sadulaev (Russia) in the Tokyo Olympic Games gold-medal finals at 97kg in August 2021. Photo courtesy of United World Wrestling. 

Session five is in the books at Jordal Amfi in Oslo, Norway.

 The U.S. men's freestylers have some work to do to get back to first in the team race. six-time World/Olympic medalist Kyle Snyder (97kg) and two-time World medalist James Green (70kg) hope to help with that that task as they begin their tournaments.

 Also, in women's freestyle, Jenna Burkert (55kg) and Kayla Miracle (62kg) take to the mat to start their event as the first day of women's freestyle action gets underway.

It was a tough round for Team USA to begin day three. While Snyder and Miracle teched their way to the semifinal round (combined 4-0), Burkert and Green hope to be pulled back in through repechage (combined 2-2). 

Inside the Bouts 

After a slow first period in his opener, James Green took a 2-0 lead over South Korea's Seungchul Lee into period two. Then, in period two, Green snagged a takedown right out of the gate to extend it to 4-0. From there, Green recorded a double-leg that sent Lee to his back. Green ended it 10-0 with a nice gut wrench. 

In his second bout against Shamil Ustaev of Germany, Green started similarly to his first bout. Aside from a shot-clock point and takedown late in the first period, there wasn't much action. Green was up 3-0 at the break. In the second, Green added a cradle for two, a double-leg for two, a step-out, and a final go-behind for his second 10-0 tech of the day.

In match three, Green was upended by a familiar opponent in Azerbaijan's Turan Bayramov. Green got the better of him at Henri Deglane last year by way of a 2-0 decision. This time around, though, it was a different story. 

Green got the first point of the match, a step-out, but quickly fell behind 4-1 on a takedown-to-turn situation. As the match progressed, Green was in on a leg numerous times but couldn't finish. A counter on a James Green attack by Bayramov extended it to 6-2 with under 30 seconds remaining. Still, Green got a big four-pointer to cut it to a 6-5 contest with 10 seconds remaining. However, he failed to get the necessary step-out. Green fell 6-5. 

Two-time Olympic finalist Kyle Snyder, the only other freestyler on the men's side in action during session four, got his tournament started with a tech fall of his own. After taking a 5-1 advantage to the break, Snyder got to his offense in period two against Mongolia's Batzul Ulziisaikhan . Snyder recorded a 14-4 final score to advance. He did it largely with step-outs and takedowns.

https://twitter.com/FloWrestling/status/1444966288015699968

Kyle finished session five up in the quarters with a shutout technical superiority decision, 11-0, over North Macedonia's Magomedgadji Nurov. Snyder made it look easy. Three step-outs and four takedowns were all it took. A Snyder vs Abdulrashid Sadulaev gold-medal finals at 97kg is still on track. 

https://twitter.com/wrestling/status/1444982817226739714

Miracle was the first to wrestle on day three in Oslo for our women's team. The match didn't start how she expected, falling behind 4-0 Gantuya Enkhbata of Mongolia. Miracle responded with a takedown and four laces, plus another takedown and lace combo on the restart to secure the tech with 14 unanswered points. She won 14-4.

https://twitter.com/FloWrestling/status/1444962334972260353

In her quarterfinal match, Miracle was lights-out. She authored a 13-2 tech of Russia's Alina Kasabieva. Miracle secured the match's first point via step-out and never trailed after that. From there, Kayla added multiple takedown-to-turn sequences to get it done. 

https://twitter.com/FloWrestling/status/1444982548459892737

At 55kg, Jenna Burkert, now on her second World Team, was 0-1 in Norway. After falling behind 4-0 early and never recovered. A 6-3 score was as close as the match would ever get.  After a few takedowns and turns by Germany's Nina Hemmer, it was over. Burkert was teched 12-4 in her opening match. 

Other TOM Coverage from the 2021 World Championships

Session 1 Recap here

Session 2 Recap here

Session 3 Recap here

Session 4 Recap here

USA Wrestling Session 5 Recaps

https://twitter.com/USAWrestling/status/1445011922114523136

https://twitter.com/USAWrestling/status/1445001964979462147



Back to articles