Jacarra Winchester named USA Wrestling Athlete of the Week

Jacarra Winchester (Colorado Springs, Colo./Titan Mercury WC) has been selected as USA Wrestling Athlete of the Week on Sept. 17, 2019.

Winchester was the USA’s first medalist at the 2019 World Championships in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, earlier this week. Wrestling at 55 kg in women’s freestyle, Winchester claimed the gold medal, knocking off a fierce opponent from Japan in the finals.

En route to her gold medal, Winchester, who entered Kazakhstan with the No. 3 seed, looked solid. To open her tournament, she defeated 2013 World University bronze medalist Madina Nadirova of Kyrgyzstan, 10-0 and Bolortuya Bat Ochir of Mongolia, 13-2. In the semifinals, Winchester stopped 2016 University World champion Bediha Gun of Turkey, 6-4.

In the gold bout, Winchester used a pair of takedowns to hold off 2012 Cadet World champion and 2015 Junior World champion Nanami Irie of Japan for a 5-3 victory in the finals.

Winchester won the 2019 gold medal in redeeming fashion after falling short in both the semifinals and the bronze-medal match at the 2018 World Championships.

Each week USA Wrestling will select an Athlete of the Week based upon performance within wrestling for that week. The selection committee will consider any level of wrestling from youth programs through the senior level. Twitter fan votes also play a part in decision.

To nominate a wrestler for this honor please send the athlete's name, wrestling program, weekly accomplishments and career accolades to USA Wrestling Communications Coordinator Taylor Miller at tmiller@usawrestling.org.