Maroulis aims for historic first Olympic gold, Pirozhkova in for bronze, Gray upset in women's freestyle

Helen Maroulis (USA) hits her signature inside trip on Sofia Mattsson (Sweden) in the 53 kg Olympic semifinals. Photo: John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com.

RIO DE JANEIRO – On the fifth day of wrestling at the Olympic Games the U.S. has broken through and guaranteed itself at least one women’s freestyle medal with Helen Maroulis storming to the 53 kg gold medal match and Elena Pirozhkova wrestling for 63 kg bronze tonight.


Maroulis ran the gauntlet of top contenders on Thursday morning inside Carioca Arena 2. The 2015 World champion downed World No. 8 Yulia Khavaldzhy Blahinya of Ukraine, World No. 4 Xuechun Zhong of China, World No. 5 Myong Suk Jong of DPR Korea and World No. 2 Sofia Mattsson of Sweden to clinch a finals berth.


“Helen is wrestling awesome,” said U.S. head coach Terry Steiner. “She had to pull that match out against North Korea. She did a great job just fighting for points out there. Against Mattsson, who is a very talented girl, she had her completely off-balance the whole time. She dominated that match from start to finish.”


Standing in Maroulis’ way of Olympic glory is three-time Olympic champion and 13-time World champion Saori Yoshida of Japan. History will be set one way or another with either the U.S. bagging its first Olympic champion in women’s freestyle or Yoshida joining teammate Kaori Icho as the first four-time Olympic champions.


In her second trip to the Olympics, Pirozhkova wrestled with poise and now finds herself one win away from a bronze medal. Pirozhkova began her day with clutch wins over World No. 8 Taybe Yusein of Bulgaria and two-time World champion and World No. 2 Battsetseg Soronzonbold of Mongolia. The four-time World medalist from the U.S. fell one point short in her semifinal, losing to World No. 4 Maryia Mamashuk of Belarus, 3-2.


Pirozhkova will face the winner of the repechage bout between World No. 14 Henna Johansson of Sweden and World No. 13 Yekaterina Larionova of Kazakhstan in the bronze medal match.


“You got to come away with something. I can’t wrestle for first place, but at least I can go for the bronze. I looked at my draw and I thought it was pretty good. I knew I could beat all the girls on my side of the bracket. They are all tough. All of the matches were close. It was just a matter of making a mistake or not,” said Pirozhkova.


The biggest upset of the day was one the U.S. contingent did not see coming. Three-time World champion Adeline Gray dropped her quarterfinal to Vasillisa Marzaliuk of Belarus in heart-wrenching fashion, 4-1. Gray was leading 1-1 on criteria, but was exposed from neutral with one second left on the clock, cutting her run at gold short.


“It was a bummer. She was a multi World medalist, Olympic medalist. I beat her nine out of 10 times until she got the best of me. I got defensive and was just trying to hold onto my lead. It was unfortunate that I didn’t win that one,” said Gray.


The Belarussian Marzaliuk, ranked No. 4 in the World, lost a tight match to World No. 2 Erica Wiebe of Canada in the 75 kg semifinals to eliminate Gray from medal contention.


“Take a look at the expression on Terry’s face. It says it all. It is just a heartbreak,” Gray continued. “The good news is that we have two girls going for medals tonight and Helen has a shot to get it done. We need an Olympic gold medalist for Team USA. My heart is with her, and anything she needs I am here for her.”


Wiebe is slated to face two-time Olympic medalist Guzel Manyurova of Kazakhstan in the 75 kg finals. This is Wiebe’s first senior level medal at the Olympic Games or World Championships.


Japan won three gold medals on the first day of women’s freestyle competition and have placed two more in the finals today. Yoshida will battle Maroulis at 53 kg, and 2015 World silver medalist Risako Kawai will take on Mamashuk at 63 kg.


Women’s freestyle competition will resume at 3 p.m. (ET) today with the repechage rounds and medal matches at 53 kg, 63 kg and 75 kg.


Every match from the 2016 Olympic Games can be viewed live courtesy of NBC at NBCOlympics.com. Complete brackets and match-by-match results can be found at unitedworldwrestling.org.

2016 OLYMPIC GAMES

Aug. 14-21 at Carioca Arena 2 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Finals Matchups
53 kg/116.5 lbs.

Gold – Saori Yoshida (Japan) vs. Helen Maroulis (United States)


Bronze – Betzabeth Arguello (Venezuela) vs. Repechage 1 Winner

Repechage 1 – Natalya Sinishin (Azerbaijan) vs. Isabelle Sambou (Senegal)


Bronze – Sofia Mattsson (Sweden) vs. Repechage 2 Winner

Repechage 2 – Myong Suk Jong (DPR Korea) vs. Repechage 1 Winner

Repechage 1 – Xuechun Zhong (China) vs. Yulia Khavaldzhy Blahinya (Ukraine)

63 kg/138.75 lbs.

Gold – Maryia Mamashuk (Belarus) vs. Risako Kawai (Japan)


Bronze – Elena Pirozhkova (United States) vs. Repechage 1 Winner

Repechage 1 –  Henna Johansson (Sweden) vs. Yekaterina Larionova (Kazakhstan)


Bronze – Inna Trazhukova (Russia) vs. Repechage 1 Winner

Repechage 1 – Monika Ewa Michalik (Poland) vs. Anastasija Grigorjeva (Latvia)

75 kg/165 lbs.

Gold – Erica Wiebe (Canada) vs. Guzel Manyurova (Kazakhstan)


Bronze – Vasilisa Marzaliuk (Belarus) vs. Repechage 1 Winner

Repechage 1 – Fengliu Zhang (China) vs. Maria Selmaier (Germany)


Bronze – Ekaterina Bukina (Russia) vs. Repechage 1 Winner

Repechage 1 – Zsanett Nemeth (Hungary) vs. Annabel Laure Ali (Cameroon)

U.S. women’s freestyle results

53 kg/116.5 lbs. - Helen Maroulis (Huntington Beach, Calif./Sunkist Kids)

WIN Yulia Khavaldzhy Blahinya (Ukraine), 12-1

WIN Xuechun Zhong (China), 10-0

WIN Myong Suk Jong (DPR Korea), 7-4

WIN Sofia Mattsson (Sweden), Fall 5:24


63 kg/138.75 lbs. - Elena Pirozhkova (Colorado Springs, Colo./Titan Mercury WC)

WIN Taybe Yusein (Bulgaria), 10-7

WIN Battsetseg Soronzonbold (Mongolia), 3-2

LOSS Maryia Mamashuk (Belarus), 3-2


75 kg/165 lbs. - Adeline Gray (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC)

WIN Andrea Olaya Gutierrez (Colombia), Fall 1:54

LOSS Vasillisa Marzaliuk (Belarus), 4-1