Shilson and Welker to Wrestle for a Medal at U23 World Championships, Fiske Alive in Repechage

Pictured: Emily Shilson (Minnesota) celebrates after winning gold at the a 2021 Junior World Championships in Ufa, Russia. Photo by Kadir Caliskan / United World Wrestling. 

Session six at the U23 World Championships is in the books in Belgrade. The session was a quick one on the mat for Team USA.

 Emily Shilson had a forfeit victory in the semifinals over 2020 Olympian Sarra Hamdi of Tunisia. As a result, Shilson will wrestle for a U23 World gold medal tomorrow.

Shilson – who has yet to surrender a point through two matches – will go for gold against India’s Shivani Pawar. Pawar has two pins and a 13-6 decision en route to this 50kg gold-medal match appearance.

Teammate Kylie Welker lost 8-0 in her semifinal matchup with 2020 Olympian and Senior World bronze medalist Aiperi Medet Kyzy of Kyrgystan.

Welker was able to get in on a leg multiple times but was never able to convert those leg attacks to points. Instead, Kyzy did an excellent job of countering Welker and turning those shots into points for herself.

Still, Welker will compete for a bronze medal tomorrow against the winner of Genesis Rosangela Reasco Valdez (Ecuador) and Bipasha of India.

Alyvia Fiske (68kg) will also be competing in repechage early Thursday during session seven.  Unfortunately, Alex Hedrick (55kg) was eliminated after India’s Anju lost in the semifinal. Michaela Beck (59kg) was elimated earlier in the day as well. 

Also on Thursday, the second group of women's freestylers will start their brackets. That includes: (Ronna Heaton - 53kg,  Amanda Martinez  - 57kg,  Emma Bruntil - 62kg,  Ashlynn Ortega -  65kg,  and Kayla Marano - 72kg).

OTHER 2021 U23 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS COVERAGE

Session I Recap here

Session 2 Recap here

Session 3 Recap here

Session 4 Recap here

Session 5 Recap here



Back to articles