Elliott, Bouzakis, Elison, and Fernandez advance to women’s freestyle U17 World semifinals

ATHENS, Greece — Team USA continued its strong showing at the U17 World Championships with a dominant morning session in women’s freestyle. Four more athletes punched tickets to tonight’s semifinals, bringing the total to five U.S. women still in the hunt for gold. In addition, Team USA currently has two wrestlers set for bronze medal matches, while Cassandra Gonzales (69 kg) awaits repechage.

Epenesa Elison (53 kg) was impressive, racking up three wins—one by technical fall, one by fall, and a 12-7 victory in the quarterfinals. Leading 6-5 at the break, Elison opened up her quarterfinal match with a well-timed heel pick for four more points and never looked back.

Retuning champion Taina Fernandez (61 kg) followed a similar path, using a dominant second period in her quarterfinal to overcome a deficit at the break and go onto win 13-6.

Maisie Elliott (40 kg) and Jaclyn Bouzakis (46 kg) also advanced with quarterfinal wins—both against opponents from India. Elliott earned a 6-2 victory, while Bouzakis put up a strong, 12-4, performance.

India currently leads the team race, with the United States close behind in second and Japan in third. India has six wrestlers still alive on the championship side, while Japan has four. Tonight’s medal matches will play a pivotal role in determining the final team standings.

Competition resumes at 5 p.m. local time with semifinal action for women’s freestyle group two. Championship finals and medal matches for women’s freestyle group one begin at 6 p.m. Team USA will have Morgan Turner wrestling for gold, and Madison Healey and Ella Poalillo competing for bronze.

For live results and ongoing updates from the tournament, follow USA Wrestling’s social media channels and coverage on theMat.com. Results, brackets, and mat assignments from the U17 World Championships are available on UWW Arena.  Fans in the U.S. can stream the event on FloWrestling.com.