Martinez makes bronze match at Polyak Imre and Varga Janos Memorial

BUDAPEST, Hungary – Amanda Martinez pushed through to the 55 kg women’s freestyle bronze medal match on Saturday morning at the Polyak Imre and Varga Janos Memorial in Budapest, Hungary.

Martinez, the 2023 U.S. Senior Nationals champion, went undefeated in Group B with a pair of impressive wins. She opened with a first period fall over Roza Szenttamasi of Hungary, who was a 2022 U20 World bronze medalist. Martinez followed with a dynamic 12-2 technical fall against four-time age-group World medalist and two-time Asian bronze medalist Marina Sedneva of Kazakhstan to solidify herself atop her pool.

In the semifinal round, Martinez faced the Group A runner-up Jowita Wrzesien of Poland and was pinned at the 2:09 mark. Wrzesien was a World bronze medalist in 2022 and a Tokyo Olympian.

A large task awaits Martinez in her bronze medal contest—2023 World bronze medalist, current European silver medalist and expected Paris Olympian Mariana Dragutan of Moldova.

It was a tough outing for the two 2024 U.S. Olympic Team members in action on Saturday. Kayla Miracle and Adam Coon dropped their first-round matches at the event to quality opponents and were unable to wrestle back for bronze.

Miracle, a two-time World finalist and four-time age-group World medalist for Team USA, took on Orkhon Purevdorj of Mongolia in the women’s freestyle 62 kg bracket, falling in a barn burner, 14-10. Purevdorj was a World champion in 2017, competed at the 2016 Olympic Games, and is the expected Mongolia entrant in Paris.

Coon, a 2018 World silver medalist, was upended in a tight, 3-1, contest by 2023 World bronze medalist and two-time Olympian Abdellatif Mohamed of Egypt in the Greco-Roman heavyweight division.

Also in the mix on the U.S. Greco-Roman side was U.S. Olympic Team Trials champion Dalton Roberts, who lost a 6-3 decision to Tokyo Olympian Abdelkarim Fergat of Algeria in his first match at 60 kg.

The medal matches are scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. local time, with Martinez the first match on the board. Budapest is located six hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time. The event is streaming live to the U.S. audience on FloWrestling.com. Updated brackets and results are available on UWW Arena.

The Polyak Imre and Varga Janos Memorial is the last UWW Ranking Series event of the season, giving athletes a final chance to up their rankings prior to the Olympic Games. For a complete breakdown of how the ranking points are awarded, visit UWW.org.