Villaescusa collects women’s freestyle bronze for U.S. at Zagreb Open
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by Richard Immel, USA Wrestling
Areana Villaescusa hand raise at the 2026 Zagreb Open.
ZAGREB, Croatia – The first medal is on the board for the U.S. women at the 2026 Zagreb Open—2024 U.S. World Team member Areana Villaescusa captured bronze at 55 kg on Thursday evening at Arena Zagreb.
Villaescusa posted a 2-1 record on her path to bronze. In the preliminary rounds, she earned a 4-1 decision over four-time age-group World medalist Tuba Demir of Türkiye before coming up a point shy against 2022 World bronze medalist Karla Godinez Gonzalez of Canada.
Her bronze medal bout came against fellow American Amani Jones, who is a two-time age-group World medalist. Villaescusa controlled the match with a pair of activity time points, plus a late takedown, to earn a 4-0 win. Jones slotted into fifth place as a result.
Bill Farrell Memorial International bronze medalist Kendra Ryan was the only other U.S. woman in action on Thursday. She went 0-2 at 50 kg and wound up in 10th place.
The tournament continues at 10:30 a.m. local time / 4:30 a.m. (ET) with the women’s freestyle group two (59-62-65-68 kg) and Greco-Roman group one (63-67 kg) prelims.
A live broadcast of the event is available to the U.S. market through FloWrestling.
Brackets and match-by-match results can be found on UWW Arena.
Gold – Haruna Morikawa (Japan)
Silver – Neelam (India)
Bronze – Muskan (India)
Bronze – Elizaveta Smirnova (UWW)
5th – Agata Goluchowska Walerzak (Poland)
5th – Natalia Walczak (Poland)
7th – Emanuela Liuzzi (Italy)
8th – Elnura Mammadova (Azerbaijan)
9th – Kamila Barbosa Vito Da Silva (Brazil)
10th – Kendra Ryan (United States)
Gold – Haruna Morikawa (Japan) dec. Neelam (India), 5-2
Bronze – Muskan (India) tech. fall Agata Goluchowska Walerzak (Poland), 11-0
Bronze – Elizaveta Smirnova (UWW) dec. Natalia Walczak (Poland), 9-6
Gold – Ekaterina Verbina (UWW)
Silver – Karla Godinez Gonzalez (Canada)
Bronze – Nagisa Harada (Japan)
Bronze – Areana Villaescusa (United States)
5th – Beatrice Ferent (Romania)
5th – Amani Jones (United States)
7th – Tuba Demir (Türkiye)
8th – Jyoti (India)
Gold – Ekaterina Verbina (UWW) dec. Karla Godinez Gonzalez (Canada), 6-0
Bronze – Nagisa Harada (Japan) dec. Beatrice Ferent (Romania), 2-1
Bronze – Areana Villaescusa (United States) dec. Amani Jones (United States), 4-0
50 kg – Kendra Ryan (Winfield, Ill./Cardinal WC), 10th place
LOSS Haruna Morikawa (Japan), tech. fall, 10-0
LOSS Natalia Walczak (Poland), 9-6
WIN Tuba Demir (Türkiye), 4-1
LOSS Karla Godinez Gonzalez (Canada), 2-1
WIN Amani Jones (United States), 4-0
55 kg – Amani Jones (Jonesboro, Ga./Cowgirls WC), 5th place
LOSS Karla Godinez Gonzalez (Canada), 5-3
LOSS Areana Villaescusa (United States), 4-0
