USA Team Trials

United States to Finalize Olympic Team Saturday, Cox Ineligible to Compete

Saturday, April 3, 2021 - 14:57 By United World Wrestling Press

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FORT WORTH, United States (April 3) – The first day of the United States Olympic Team Trials was filled with on-mat theatrics from young stars, and an off-the-mat drama suitable for a daytime television.

Before the first whistle blew, J’Den Cox – a favorite to win the 97kg weight category -- was deemed ineligible to compete having not weighed-in on time. The two-time world champion and Olympic bronze medalist appealed the decision, but did not compete at the championships

Friday’s action was the first part of the two-day process to select the United States’ Olympic team for Tokyo 2021. Wrestlers who won a medal at an Olympic weight at the Senior Wrestling World Championships in 2019 were granted a pass to Saturday night’s finals where they wait to meet the winner of the challenge tournament (i.e. Adeline Gray, Jordan Burroughs, Tamyrah Mensah-Stock, Kyle Snyder). Additionally, wrestlers in women’s wrestling and Greco-Roman who qualified their weight category in Ottawa were also given a pass to the best-of-three finals (i.e. Helen Maroulis, Joe Rau).

Wrestling will start at 6:30pm CT/7:30pm ET and air on NBCSports.com and NBC Sports app.

Ronna Heaton after winning her semifinal match. Photo: Tony Rotundo

Women’s Wrestling

50kg: Sarah Hildebrandt* v. Victoria Anthony

Sarah Hildebrandt, who was runner-up in the 2018 world championships and also qualified the weight in Ottawa last March, will face Victoria Anthony in the best of three finals. Anthony beat her longtime rival Alyssa Lampe, 6-6 via criteria in the semifinals before topping Amy Fearnside in the final. Anthony recently won the 2021 Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series tournament in Rome, beat 2019 world silver medalist Alina Vuc, 10-0 en route to her gold medal finish.

53kg: Jacarra Winchester* v. Ronna Heaton

Defending world champion Jacarra Winchester will look to make her first Olympic team on Saturday. The top-ranked Winchester will face 2016 cadet world champion Ronna Heaton in the best-of-three finals.

57kg: Helen Maroulis* v. Jenna Burkert

Jenna Burkert hit a beautiful head and arm throw in the challenge tournament finals to pin two-time world silver medalist Ali Ragan and punch her ticket to the finals. Burkert will face world and Olympic champion Helen Maroulis in the best of three finals.

62kg: Kayla Miracle* v. Macey Kilty

Kayla Miracle, a U23 world silver medalist, qualified the weight category for the United States in Ottawa, and will face four-time world age group medalist Macey Kilty in the finals.

68kg: Tamyrah Mensah-Stock* v. Kennedy Blades

Defending world champion Tamyrah Mensah-Stock will look to make her first Olympic team on Saturday, but to do so will have to beat the most impressive young wrestler in the United States. Kennedy Blades, who is only 17 years old, rolled through Friday’s challenge tournament, earning an 11-1 technical fall against two-time world team member Forrest Molinari in the challenge tournament finals.

76kg: Adeline Gray* v. Kylie Welker

Five-time world champion Adeline Gray will look to make her second Olympic team versus 17-year-old Kylie Welker. The youngster defeated world team member Victoria Francis 6-3 in the finals of the challenge tournament.

David Taylor faces longtime teammate Bo Nickal in Saturday's best-of-three finals. Photo Tony Rotundo

Men’s Freestyle

57kg: Vito Aruja v. Thomas Gilman

Thomas Gilman, who took silver at the 2017 world championships at 57kg, is looking to make his first Olympic team. Vito Arajau

65kg: Jordan Oliver v. Joey McKenna

Jordan Oliver upset three-time age group world champion Yianni Diakomihalis in the semifinals, 4-4 via criteria. The victory put Oliver into the Saturday night finals against Joey McKenna who upset 2019 world team member Zain Retherford in Friday’s other semifinal. The United States has yet to qualify the weight category for the Tokyo Olympic Games and will be sending Saturday night’s winner to the Last Chance Qualifier in Sofia, Bulgaria.

74kg: Jordan Burroughs* v. Kyla Dake

The most anticipated matchup of the tournament will happen. Kyle Dake breezed through the challenge tournament on Friday outscoring his two opponents 20-0 en route to Saturday night’s best-of-three final. Burroughs sat out the challenge tournament after earning bronze at the 2019 World Championships in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.

86kg: David Taylor v. Bo Nickal

David Taylor and Bo Nickal will clash Saturday night after the duo made their respective ways through the challenge tournament. Nickal is a U23 world champion and was runner-up to J’Den Cox at 92kg in 2019. A 2018 senior-level world champion, Taylor is looking to make his first Olympic team. The pair have been in the same club for several years.

97kg: Kyle Snyder* v. Kollin Moore

World and Olympic champion Kyle Snyder had expected to meet J’Den Cox, but will instead face former teammate Kollin Moore, who won four matches on Friday to make the Saturday finals. Should Snyder prevail he’ll be looking to repeat his Olympic gold medal performance from 2016, but will need to go through Abdulrashid Sadualev of Russia to once again climb to the top of the Olympic podium.

125kg: Gable Steveson v. Nick Gwiazdowski

Two-time world bronze medalist Nick Gwiazdowski will face three-time age level world champion Gable Steveson in the Saturday night finals. Steveson recently beat Gwiazdowski 4-1 in competition and won his first two matches by a combined 22-0.

Ryan Mango looks to launch himself to his first Olympic team. Photo: Tony Rotundo

Greco-Roman

60kg: ldar Hafizov* v. Ryan Mango

A longtime member of Team USA, Ryan Mango will face newcomer ldar Hafizov in the Saturday finals. Both are looking to make their first Olympic team.

67kg: Alejandro Sancho* v. Ellis Coleman

Alejandro Sancho qualified the weight in Ottawa and sat out the challenge tournament. He will face two-time world bronze medalist and 2016 Olympic team member Ellis Coleman in the best -of-three finals.

77kg: Peyton Walsh v. Jesse Porter

This will be both wrestlers first attempt at making a world or Olympic team. The winner will also be tasked with qualifying the weight at the Last Chance Tournament in Bulgaria.

87kg: Joe Rau* v. John Stefanowicz

Two-time world team member Joe Rau qualified the weight in Ottawa and will face John Stefanowicz in the best of three finals. Neither wrestler has made an Olympic team.

97kg: G'Angelo Hancock* v. Braxton Amos

Three-time world team member and junior world bronze medalist G’Angelo Hancock will look to make his first Olympic team. He’ll face Braxton Amos who won his weight category in Greco-Roman while also competing in freestyle.

130kg: Adam Coon v. Colton Schulz

World silver medalist Adam Coon will take on cadet world champion and junior world silver medalist Colton Schultz in Saturday night’s final. The winner will also need to travel to Bulgaria in order to qualify the weight category.

#WrestleTirana

Elor wins eighth world title, sets sights on Paris Olympics

Friday, October 27, 2023 - 21:38 By Vinay Siwach

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TIRANA, Albania (October 27) -- If you were logging in to watch Amit ELOR (USA) compete in the 72kg final of the U23 World Championships, most likely you missed the final. That's because she was lightning fast in winning the bout in mere 21 seconds.

And if you think that was quick, Elor finished her first bout in 16 seconds and the second in 18 seconds. Only her semifinal against Wiktoria CHOLUJ (POL) was for six minutes. Out of the 24 minutes for four bouts, Elor spent only six minutes and 55 seconds on the mat to win the U23 World Championships in Tirana, Albania on Friday.

ALSO READ: Despite nine wrestlers, Japan wins team title

At the age of 19, Amit Elor now holds an impressive record of eight world titles across different age groups, including two senior, two U23, three U20, and one U17 world gold.

While her remarkable stats speak about her dominance on the mat, Elor herself has kept no record of her international wins or scores.

"Maybe I should go over," she says. "We used to do it in high school. And ever since I got into international wrestling, I haven't thought about it as much. But it would be really cool to look back and see how many matches they've had and how many wins and losses. I remember the competitions, but not always every single match unless it was really meaningful."

Amit ELOR (USA)Amit ELOR (USA) used the lace to win her 72kg final. (Photo: UWW / Kadir Caliskan)

For most, the final would mean a lot but for Elor, the semifinal at the U23 World Championships against Choluj was the stand-out match. Choluj managed to stop Elor from scoring a fall or win via technical superiority and lost only 5-0.

"Probably my semi-final had a strong opponent and our styles matched up against each other," she says. "It was kind of similar styles which made it difficult. A lot of hand-fighting. I had some injuries from senior Worlds that made it difficult to hand fight. But I stayed composed and in good position and I was able to win."

The final against Jyoti BERWAL (UWW) was unbelievably one-sided as by the time Berwal could try any move on Elor, the American had laced her for a 10-0 victory.

With that, Elor extended her international career record to 38-1, the one loss coming at the U17 World Championships in 2019. "I'll get it next year," a 16-year-old Elor would say back then. She won the gold at the next U17 Worlds without conceding a point.

"It's not easy," Elor says. "There's so much work involved that leads up to the competition. There's a lot of pressure and I want to do my best and I have high expectations for myself. When you go out there and you wrestle it seems so short and easy but that's just the result of all the work leading up to the competition."

In the lead-up to the U23 Worlds, Elor trained with six-time world champion Adeline GRAY (USA), trained at her home in California and also used her experience at the U20 and senior worlds which she called the 'perfect preparation.'

"Training with Adeline has been amazing for me," she says. "I am constantly learning so much from her. Not just about wrestling but about being an athlete and taking care of yourself. She is a very confident, strong person and so I've kind of learned how to think more for myself and what I need as an athlete.

"The two World Championships were perfect preparation for this."

It was the same script last year in which Elor won three world titles, becoming the first from the U.S. to win all the world titles. She just repeated the three-peat.

 

But the season is not over for her. Elor will soon be challenging herself to make the Olympic weight of 68kg (72kg is not an Olympic weight) in her bid to be at Paris 2024. 

"The most important thing for me is that I feel my best when I'm wrestling," she says. "Right now my plan is to drop my weight to 68kg and see how I feel there. That's going to be a big challenge, a different weight."

Elor says she has not reduced weight for a competition. Though she spent her early days in international wrestling at 68kg, that was at the U17 level.

"I was 68kg in 2021, so it's nothing new but it's still been two years," she says. "It's going to be challenging but I'm really excited and I'm ready to do everything I possibly can because it's the Olympic year."

Being at the Olympics will make Elor the second wrestler in the world to win all world titles and also compete at the Games. A gold in Paris will put her next to Yui SUSAKI (JPN), the only wrestler to have won all world titles and the Olympic gold. 

But just to be in Paris, Elor will have a marathon stretch. In the U.S., she will have to first wrestle at the team trials to be at the Pan-Am Olympic Qualifiers in March. If the country qualifies the weight for Paris, Elor will have to go through the Olympic Team Trials in April.

"Unfortunately, 68kg wasn't qualified yet for the Olympics," she says. "There's going to be a wrestle-off in February and whoever wins will go to Pan Ams and try to qualify the weight there. I would really need to work more on my speed and coordination and definitely add more to my arsenal. I'll wrestle in the wrestle-off at 68 and see how I do."