Dymond Guilford leads four U.S. Wrestlers into medal rounds on day four of the Polyák Imre, Varga János & Kozma István Memorial

BUDAPEST, Hungary – Dymond Guilford advances to the gold-medal match in the women’s freestyle 76 kg bracket, headlining a list of four U.S. wrestlers in the medal rounds Saturday at the 2026 Polyák Imre, Varga János & Kozma István Memorial Ranking Series event in Budapest, Hungary.

Cristelle Rodriguez will contend for bronze at 53 kg, and Amanda Martinez will compete for bronze at 57 kg. In Greco-Roman competition, Beka Melelashvili will enter the bronze-medal match at 87 kg.

Guilford was impressive throughout her preliminary action, securing three wins, including a pin in her tournament opener against Kazakhstan’s Alina Yertostik, the current U23 Asian Championships silver medalist. She earned a 5-1 win over India’s Priya in the quarterfinals and clinched her spot in the finals with an 8-0 shutout of China’s Wenji Li.

Guilford will aim to close out her tournament in the finals against Kajal of India, a U23 Asian Championships gold medalist and the 2025 U20 World champion.

Rodriguez went 1-1 to start the day in the 53 kg bracket, winning her tournament opener against Azerbaijan’s Nargiz Samadova, whom she blanked 6-0. She met India’s Antim in the quarterfinals and suffered a 10-0 setback, which dropped her into the repechage match against China’s Yuxuan Li. She wasted no time securing her place in the medal round against Li, earning a 14-second fall after snatching a headlock that set up a trip, allowing her to drive through Li and flatten her.

In the 53 kg bronze-medal match, Rodriguez will face China’s Jin Zhang, a 2024 World silver medalist and reigning 53 kg Asian Championships gold medalist.

Martinez also advanced to the medal round via repechage after a 1-1 record in the preliminary rounds. In the round of 16, she secured a convincing 5-1 win over Romania’s Georgiana Lirca, a silver medalist at the 2023 U20 World Championships. After dropping a 6-1 decision to India in the quarterfinals, she prepared for her repechage match against Sweden’s Evelina Hulthen. Carrying a 1-0 lead into the second period against Hulthen, Martinez converted a blast double into four points, setting up a 7-3 win. 

Up next, Martinez contends for bronze against Brazil’s Giullia Penalber, who enters the matchup 3-1 on the day with three pins.

Melelashvili concluded the opening session with a 3-1 record in Greco-Roman competition. After shutting out Egypt’s Mohamed Dyab, the reigning African Championships gold medalist, 4-0, he advanced to the round of 16, where he scored a technical fall, 9-0, over India’s Rohit Bura. Melelashvili then secured a 5-1 victory over Georgia’s Gurami Khetsuriani in the quarterfinals, before suffering a 6-1 loss to Russia’s Islam Alieve in the semifinals.

In the 87 kg bronze-medal match, Melelashvili will face Matej Mandic of Croatia, who is 2-1 on the day. Mandic advances to the medal round via repechage after being pinned by Aliev in the round of 16.

Sydney Petzinger was defeated 7-4 in the round of 16 of the women's freestyle 53 kg bracket. Benji Peak and Brett Back also competed in the Greco-Roman division on Saturday but lost their opening-round matches in the 72 kg bracket.

Saturday’s second session, featuring four U.S. medal matches, including three women’s freestyle and one Greco-Roman, begins at 6 p.m. local time/noon ET.

A live stream of the Polyák Imre, Varga János & Kozma István Memorial is available to the U.S. audience through FloWrestling. Brackets and updated results will be hosted on UWW Arena.