By Richard Immel
USA Wrestling
TIRANA, Albania –
Wisconsin native Kylie Welker punctuated a remarkable run by the U.S. women to its first team title in U23 World Championships history with a first period pin in the 72 kg gold medal match on Friday evening at Tirana’s Feti Borova Sports Hall.

As the last match of the event, Welker came out firing against Canada’s Vianne Rouleau. She built a 3-0 lead with a step out and single leg takedown in the first 30 seconds before collecting a near-side cradle from a go-behind takedown, powering it up for the fall in 1:12.

With the win, Welker collected her second age-group World title and third overall World medal. She was a U20 World champion in 2021 and a U17 World bronze medalist in 2019.

Welker joined 50 kg champion Sage Mortimer and 76 kg champion Yelena Makoyed atop the medal stand for Team USA this week in Albania.

Two more Americans competed in the medal round on Friday night but came up short against stingy opponents from Ukraine.  

Offense was hard to find for Macey Kilty in the 62 kg final against four-time age-group World medalist Iryna Bondar. Kilty consistently attacked the left leg of Bondar but was only able to convert on a single occasion, as the buzzer sounded at the end of the first period. Otherwise, Bondar countered Kilty’s attacks well, converting three go-behind takedown-to-gutwrench combinations off Kilty’s shot attempts in a 12-3 decision.

With a second silver medal from the U23 Worlds in tow, Kilty now owns six age-group World medals to go along with her silver medal from the 2023 Senior World Championships. Of Kilty’s seven World medals, five are silver. Her single gold and bronze medals were earned at the U17 level.

Both Welker and Kilty will compete next week on these same mats at the Senior World Championships for Team USA.

2022 U20 World finalist Sophia Macaluso finished one win shy of collecting her second age-group World medal. She was upended 8-4 by Alina Filipovych in a competitive bronze medal match to finish in fifth place at 57 kg.

The U.S. amassed 136 team points with three champions, one runner-up, one bronze medalist and two fifth-place finishers to outscore second place Japan by seven points. Ukraine posted a respectable 124 points to wind up in third place.

Prior to this year, the U.S. had never won a U23 World team title in women’s freestyle. Its previous high finish was 2022 where it came in second to Japan. Japan had won every U23 Worlds dating back to the first edition in 2017, except 2021, where it didn’t send a team. Ukraine is the only other nation outside of Japan, and now the U.S., to win this event in women’s freestyle.

The U.S. broke its women’s freestyle medal record at the U23 Worlds with five, topping the 2022 high water mark of four. Three champions is also a new record. Previously, the U.S. women had never had more than one gold medalist at this event.

The U23 World Championships continue at 10:30 a.m. local time with the men’s freestyle group one (50-55-59-68-76 kg) repechage and men’s freestyle group two (57-65-70-79-97 kg) qualification rounds. For those following along live, Tirana, Albania, is located six hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time.

Updated brackets and match-by-match results are available on UWW Arena. A live broadcast of the event is available for the U.S. market at FloWrestling.com.

Revisit the details of each match from today in our day five match notes article.

2024 U23 World Championships | At Tirana, Albania, October 25

Women’s Freestyle Results

Team Ranking

1. United States, 136

2. Japan, 129

3. Ukraine, 124

4. China, 95

5. India, 85

6. Canada, 54

7. Turkey, 42

8. Mongolia, 39

9. Kazakhstan, 30

10. Azerbaijan, 29

Final Results (Group Two)

53 kg

Gold – Yu Sakamoto (Japan)

Silver – Serena Di Benedetto (Canada)

Bronze – Otgontuya Chinbold (Mongolia)

Bronze – Anastasia Blayvas (Germany)

5th – Zeinep Bayanova (Kazakhstan)

5th – Xiaomin Xie (China)

7th – Liliia Malanchuk (Ukraine)

8th – Elena Ivaldi (United States)

9th – Yusmy Chaparro Urrego (Colombia)

10th – Viktoryia Volk (Individual Neutral Athlete)

Gold – Yu Sakamoto (Japan) tech. fall Serena Di Benedetto (Canada), 11-0

Bronze – Otgontuya Chinbold (Mongolia) tech. fall Zeinep Bayanova (Kazakhstan), 12-2

Bronze – Anastasia Blayvas (Germany) dec. Xiaomin Xie (China), 10-8

57 kg

Gold – Zhala Aliyeva (Azerbaijan)

Silver – Ruka Natami (Japan)

Bronze – Neha Sharma (India)

Bronze – Alina Filipovych (Ukraine)

5th – Mingyue Zhang (China)

5th – Sofia Macaluso (United States)

7th – Aryna Martynava (Individual Neutral Athlete)

8th – Sevim Akbas (Turkey)

9th – Mia Friesen (Canada)

10th – Anastasia Kozlova (Individual Neutral Athlete)

Gold – Zhala Aliyeva (Azerbaijan) dec. Ruka Natami (Japan), 10-8

Bronze – Neha Sharma (India) dec. Mingyue Zhang (China), 5-0

Bronze – Alina Filipovych (Ukraine) dec. Sofia Macaluso (United States), 8-4

62 kg

Gold – Iryna Bondar (Ukraine)

Silver – Macey Kilty (United States)

Bronze – Esther Kolawole (Nigeria)

Bronze – Olha Padoshyk (Poland)

5th – Viktoria Vesso (Estonia)

5th – Hanying Zhang (China)

7th – Khongorzul Boldsaikhan (Mongolia)

8th – Astrid Montero Chirinos (Venezuela)

9th – Ruzanna Mammadova (Azerbaijan)

10th – Selvi Ilyasoglu (Turkey)

Gold – Iryna Bondar (Ukraine) dec. Macey Kilty (United States), 12-3

Bronze – Esther Kolawole (Nigeria) tech. fall Viktoria Vesso (Estonia), 10-0

Bronze – Olha Padoshyk (Poland) fall Hanying Zhang (China), 0:53

65 kg

Gold – Irina Ringaci (Moldova)

Silver – Alina Kasabieva (Individual Neutral Athlete)

Bronze – Shiksha Shiksha (India)

Bronze – Kateryna Zelenykh (Romania)

5th – Rin Teramoto (Japan)

5th – Karolina Pok (Hungary)

7th – Kseniya Tsiarenia (Individual Neutral Athlete)

8th – Angelina Ellis Toddington (Canada)

9th – Yuqi Rao (China)

10th – Dilnaz Sazanova (Kyrgyzstan)

Gold – Irina Ringaci (Moldova) dec. Alina Kasabieva (Individual Neutral Athlete), 10-3

Bronze – Shiksha Shiksha (India) dec. Rin Teramoto (Japan), 6-3

Bronze – Kateryna Zelenykh (Romania) fall Karolina Pok (Hungary), 1:57

72 kg

Gold – Kylie Welker (United States)

Silver – Vianne Rouleau (Canada)

Bronze – Anastasiya Alpyeyeva (Ukraine)

Bronze – Viktoryia Radzkova (Individual Neutral Athlete)

5th – Haticenur Sari (Turkey)

5th – Olesia Bezuglova (Individual Neutral Athlete)

7th – Yufei Gao (China)

8th – Maria Ceballos Cuenu (Colombia)

9th – Yuka Fujikura (Japan)

10th – Veronika Vilk (Croatia)

Gold – Kylie Welker (United States) fall Vianne Rouleau (Canada), 1:12

Bronze – Anastasiya Alpyeyeva (Ukraine) fall Haticenur Sari (Turkey), 3:42

Bronze – Viktoryia Radzkova (Individual Neutral Athlete) fall Olesia Bezuglova (Individual Neutral Athlete), 4:09

U.S. Women’s Freestyle Results (Group Two)

53 kg – Elena Ivaldi (Rocklin, Calif.), 8th place

WIN Yusmy Chaparro Urrego (Colombia), 8-8

LOSS Otgontuya Chinbold (Mongolia), 10-8

57 kg – Sofia Macaluso (Otisville, N.Y./West Point WC), 5th place

WIN Bertha Rojas Chavez (Mexico), 11-9

WIN Anastasia Kozlova (Individual Neutral Athlete), 4-1

LOSS Zhala Aliyeva (Azerbaijan), fall, 2:04

LOSS Alina Filipovych (Ukraine), 8-4

62 kg – Macey Kilty (Stratford, Wis./Iowa Women’s WC/Titan Mercury WC), silver medal

WIN Tynys Dubek (Kazakhstan), fall, 2:33

WIN Esther Kolawole (Nigeria), fall, 5:30

WIN Astrid Montero Chirinos (Venezuela), tech. fall, 10-0

WIN Viktoria Vesso (Estonia), tech. fall, 12-2

LOSS Iryna Bondar (Ukraine), 12-3

65 kg – Adaugo Nwachukwu (Fountain, Colo./Army WCAP), 12th place

LOSS Kateryna Zelenykh (Romania), 5-5

72 kg – Kylie Welker (Franksville, Wis./Iowa Women’s WC/Titan Mercury WC), gold medal

WIN Anastassiya Panassovich (Kazakhstan), tech. fall, 11-0

WIN Haticenur Sari (Turkey), tech. fall 10-0

WIN Anastasiya Alpyeyeva (Ukraine), 3-1

WIN Vianne Rouleau (Canada), fall, 1:12