#WrestleBudapest

LIVE BLOG: European Olympic Qualifier, Day Two (Session One)

By Eric Olanowski

BUDAPEST, Hungary (March 19) --- The second day of wrestling at the #WrestleBudapest European Olympic Qualifier is underway in Hungary. 

Day One Recap: Armenia Earns Olympic Berths Through Rising Stars Tevanyan and Harutyunyan

Semifinal Matchups:
50kg
SEMIFINAL: Miglena SELISHKA (BUL) vs.Iwona Nina MATKOWSKA (POL) 
SEMIFINAL: Evin DEMIRHAN (TUR) vs. Julie Martine SABATIE (FRA) 

53kg
SEMIFINAL: Sofia Magdalena MATTSSON (SWE) vs. Stalvira ORSHUSH (RUS)
SEMIFINAL: Vanesa KALADZINSKAYA (BLR) vs. Iulia LEORDA (MDA)

57kg 
SEMIFINAL:  Sara LINDBORG (SWE) vs. Alina HRUSHYNA AKOBIIA (UKR) 
SEMIFINAL: Bediha GUN (TUR) vs. Evelina Georgieva NIKOLOVA (BUL) 

62kg
SEMIFINAL: Elif Jale YESILIRMAK (TUR) vs. Anastasija GRIGORJEVA (LAT)
SEMIFINAL:  Iryna KOLIADENKO (UKR) vs. Mariana CHERDIVARA ESANU (MDA)

68kg
SEMIFINAL:  Elis MANOLOVA (AZE) vs. Khanum VELIEVA (RUS) 
SEMIFINAL: Koumba LARROQUE (FRA) vs. Dalma CANEVA (ITA) 

76kg
SEMIFINAL: Martina KUENZ (AUT) vs. Natalia VOROBEVA (RUS)
SEMIFINAL: Vasilisa MARZALIUK (BLR) vs. Mariya ORYASHKOVA (BUL)

14:31: That'll do it for the opening session of women's wrestling. We'll see you back here at 14:00 for the freestyle medal matches.

14:26: The final match of the session is a close one.  Mariya ORYASHKOVA (BUL) leads Georgina NELTHORPE (GBR) by one point with one minute left. The winner will wrestle Vasilisa MARZALIUK (BLR) for an Olympic berth.

14:21: The Turkish upper weight struggle continues. Martina KUENZ (AUT) just pinned world champion Yasemin ADAR (TUR). Adar will have one last opportunity to qualify Turkey for the Olympic Games at 76kg.

14:17: That's back-to-back falls for Olympic champion Vorobieva. She'll wrestle for her

14:01: How about that rollercoaster of a match? Bediha GUN (TUR) led two-time European champion Grace BULLEN (NOR), 2-0, but relaxed on the edge and surrendered a takedown. She trailed, 2-2, but got to her shot with 12 seconds left and scored the match deciding takedown. Gun will wrestle the winner of Emese BARKA (HUN) and Alina HRUSHYNA AKOBIIA (UKR) in tonight's semifinals.

13:40: Iryna KOLIADENKO (UKR) lead Rio Olympic silver medalist Maryia MAMASHUK (BLR), 2-0, over on Mat A. The first period is about to come to a close.

13:29: Kriszta INCZE (ROU) already took out one world silver medalist today (Liubov OVCHAROVA (RUS)). Can she make it two? She leads Turkey's Elif Jale YESILIRMAK, 2-0, over on Mat B.

13:15: Mattsson is wrestling at another level. It doesn't make sense. This is her 14th year wrestling on the senior level (made debut in '07) and she's still improving. How is that possible?! She's outscored her first two opponents 21-0 en route to the 53kg semifinals. Mattsson will wrestle the winner of Stalvira ORSHUSH (RUS) and Jessica BLASZKA (NED) for an Olympic berth.

13:09: There are three matches going on right now and two of them feature world champions. Mattson is wrestling on Mat B and two-time world champion Vanesa KALADZINSKAYA (BLR) is wrestling on Mat C!

13:01: We're five minutes away from rolling right into the quarterfinals!

12:47: We'll hold all quarterfinal matches until all the 1/8 matches wrap up.

12:34: Starting at Bout 97 on Mat A, world champions Natalia Vorobeva and Yasemin ADAR (TUR) will be up back-to-back.

12:08: Yaneva is absolutely furious, and I would be, too. She's yelling about Tosun's constant hair pulling. The ref looked at her and signaled to quiet down before awarding her a point. Yaneva ends Tosun's day, 5-0.

12:06:  Buse TOSUN (TUR) has been repeatedly yanking on Yuliana YANEVA's (BUL) hair and has been warned several times. Things could get chippy on Mat A!

12:04:  Natallia VARAKINA (BLR) and Emma MALMGREN (SWE) are in a tight battle on Mat C. There's a little less than 90 seconds left in the second period. Malmgren just scored a takedown to take the criteria lead. Things are about to heat up!

11:56:  I'm not a betting man, but if I was, I would have bet that Adela HANZLICKOVA (CZE) would go big at least once in her opening-round match against Hanna SADCHANKA (BLR). She's so fun to watch compete; she loves letting it fly.

11:50: Elif Yesilirmak is coming up in two matches on Mat B. Through her London Olympic qualification, she became the first Turkish woman to earn an Olympic berth. She then qualified for the Rio Games -- making her the first Turkish woman to qualify for back-to-back Olympic Games. Can she make it a three-peat? 

11:47: Upset of the Day Candidate: Kriszta INCZE (ROU) just demolished '19 world silver medalist Liubov OVCHAROVA (RUS), 11-4. She'll face the winner of Katarzyna MADROWSKA (POL) and Elif YESILIRMAK (TUR). 

11:39: Hemmer tried fighting back, but ultimately gave up a last-second takedown and lost to Iulia LEORDA (MDA), 8-6.

11:38: There's been a stop in action on Mat B. Nina HEMMER (GER) suffered a leg injury but it looks like she's going to tough it out wrestle through the pain.

11:29: Although it's still a way out, Natalia VOROBEVA (RUS) will wrestle on Mat A in ten matches (Bout 97). The London gold medalist and Rio silver-medal winner is the reigning world and European champion at the non-Olympic weight of 72kg. She’s moving up to 76kg with hopes of becoming the first non-Japanese woman ever to win a pair of Olympic gold medals. 

11:15: Sofia MATTSSON (SWE) is coming up next on Mat B. The six-time world medal-winner and Rio Olympic bronze medalist is coming off winning January's Henri Deglane where she defeated reigning world champion Jacarra WINCHESTER (USA) in the finals. But today, she begins her quest to become Sweden's first-ever two-time women's wrestling Olympian.

11:12: Good morning, from beautiful Budapest! Yesterday lived up to the hype. Let's keep things rolling with another great day of action. We'll kick things off with four freestyle repechage matches then roll right into women's wrestling action.

#UnitedWorldWrestling

UWW finalizes 2026 World, Continental Championships

By United World Wrestling Press

ZAGREB, Croatia (September 13) -- United World Wrestling has announced the host cities for all the continental and age-group World Championships for 2026.

The three age-group World Championships will be held in three different continents in 2026. Baku, Azerbaijan will kick off the World Championships season next year with the U17 World Championships from July 27 to August 2.

Baku hosted the Greco-Roman World Cup in 2022 and the European Olympic Games Qualifiers in 2024.

Las Vegas, United States will be hosting the U23 World Championships from October 12 to 18, the first time the country will host a World Championships since 2015.

Tirana gets Euros

The UWW Bureau held a meeting on Friday, a day prior to the World Championships, which begins Saturday in Zagreb. It allocated all the tournaments for 2026, barring the 2026 World Championships, to be announced on September 16, Wednesday.

The European Championships will be headed to Tirana, Albania and will be held from April 20 to 26. Tirana will also host the second stop for Ranking Series from February 25 to March 1.

For a second year in a row, Amman, Jordan will host the Asian Championships from April 7 to 12.

Iowa, United States managed to claim the Pan-American Championships for 2026. It will host the senior event in Iowa from May 6 to 9 after getting the rights over Lima, Peru. 

The U17, U20 and Senior Oceania Championships foe 2026 were awarded to Apia, Samoa.

Age-group continentals

Zrenjanin, Serbia will play host to the 2026 U23 European Championships from March 9 to 15. The U20 European Championships will be in Skopje, North Macedonia from July 6 to 12 while the U15 & U17 European Championships were awarded to Samokov, Bulgaria. The U17 event and will be held from May 11 to 17 and the U15 event from May 20 to 24.

For Asia, the 2026 U17 & U23 Asian Championships will once again travel to Da Nang, Vietnam from May 23 to 31. The country hosted the same tournament in 2025 as well. The U15 & U20 Asian Championships will be hosted by Bangkok, Thailand from June 27 to July 5.

The U23 Pan-American Championships will be moving to Miranda, Venezuela . The U20 Pan-American Championships will be held from July 9 to 11 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Panama City, Panama will be hosting the U17 Pan-American Championships from May 28 to 30. The U15 Pan-American Championships will be in Santiago de Chile, Chile.

As announced earlier, the Ranking Series stops are decided till 2028. For all details about events, refer to uww.org/events.

Note: An earlier version of the article read that the 2026 U20 World Championships will be held in Manama, Bahrain. That has been removed as the host is not confirmed.