Amanda Martinez works for a fall against Marina Sedneva of Kazakhstan in preliminary action at the Polyak Imre and Varga Janos Memorial.

Amanda Martinez works for a fall against Marina Sedneva of Kazakhstan in preliminary action at the Polyak Imre and Varga Janos Memorial.

USAWInternationalWomenKayla Miracle

Martinez makes bronze match at Polyak Imre and Varga Janos Memorial

by Richard Immel, USA Wrestling

BUDAPEST, Hungary – Amanda Martinez pushed through to the 55 kg women’s freestyle bronze medal match on Saturday morning at the Polyak Imre and Varga Janos Memorial in Budapest, Hungary.


Martinez, the 2023 U.S. Senior Nationals champion, went undefeated in Group B with a pair of impressive wins. She opened with a first period fall over Roza Szenttamasi of Hungary, who was a 2022 U20 World bronze medalist. Martinez followed with a dynamic 12-2 technical fall against four-time age-group World medalist and two-time Asian bronze medalist Marina Sedneva of Kazakhstan to solidify herself atop her pool.


In the semifinal round, Martinez faced the Group A runner-up Jowita Wrzesien of Poland and was pinned at the 2:09 mark. Wrzesien was a World bronze medalist in 2022 and a Tokyo Olympian.


A large task awaits Martinez in her bronze medal contest—2023 World bronze medalist, current European silver medalist and expected Paris Olympian Mariana Dragutan of Moldova.


It was a tough outing for the two 2024 U.S. Olympic Team members in action on Saturday. Kayla Miracle and Adam Coon dropped their first-round matches at the event to quality opponents and were unable to wrestle back for bronze.


Miracle, a two-time World finalist and four-time age-group World medalist for Team USA, took on Orkhon Purevdorj of Mongolia in the women’s freestyle 62 kg bracket, falling in a barn burner, 14-10. Purevdorj was a World champion in 2017, competed at the 2016 Olympic Games, and is the expected Mongolia entrant in Paris.


Coon, a 2018 World silver medalist, was upended in a tight, 3-1, contest by 2023 World bronze medalist and two-time Olympian Abdellatif Mohamed of Egypt in the Greco-Roman heavyweight division.


Also in the mix on the U.S. Greco-Roman side was U.S. Olympic Team Trials champion Dalton Roberts, who lost a 6-3 decision to Tokyo Olympian Abdelkarim Fergat of Algeria in his first match at 60 kg.


The medal matches are scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. local time, with Martinez the first match on the board. Budapest is located six hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time. The event is streaming live to the U.S. audience on FloWrestling.com. Updated brackets and results are available on UWW Arena.


The Polyak Imre and Varga Janos Memorial is the last UWW Ranking Series event of the season, giving athletes a final chance to up their rankings prior to the Olympic Games. For a complete breakdown of how the ranking points are awarded, visit UWW.org.

UWW Ranking Series: Polyak Imre and Varga Janos Memorial | June 8, Budapest Hungary

Women’s Freestyle Medal Matches

55 kg

Gold – Roza Szenttamasi (Hungary) vs.  Jowita Wrzesien (Poland)

Bronze – Mariana Dragutan (Moldova) vs. Amanda Martinez (United States)


62 kg

Gold – Iryna Koliadenko (Ukraine) vs. Ana Godinez Gonzalez (Canada)

Bronze – Alina Kasabieva (Individual Neutral Athlete) vs. Orkhon Purevdorj (Mongolia)

Bronze – Lais Nunes (Brazil) vs. Grace Bullen (Norway)


65 kg

Gold – Nesrin Bas (Turkey) vs. Iryna Bodnar (Ukraine)

Bronze – Eniko Elekes (Hungary) vs. Miki Rowbottom (Canada)


68 kg

Gold – Soleymi Caraballo Hernandez (Venezuela) vs. Buse Cavusoglu Tosun (Turkey)

Bronze – Kseniia Burakova (Individual Neutral Athlete) vs. Wiktoria Choluj (Poland)

Bronze – Firuza Esenbaeva (Uzbekistan) vs. Delgermaa Enkhsaikhan (Mongolia)


76 kg

Round 5 – Genesis Reasco Valdez (Ecuador) vs. Reetika Reetika (India)


Greco-Roman Medal Matches

60 kg

Gold – Mehdi Mohsen Nejad (Iran) vs. Pridon Abuladze (Georgia)

Bronze – Jamal Valizadeh (UWW) vs. Dahyun Kim (Korea)

Bronze – Amirreza Dehbozorgi (Iran) vs. Abdelkarim Fergat (Algeria)


63 kg

Gold – Victor Ciobanu (Romania) vs. Murad Mammadov (Azerbaijan)

Bronze – Raiber Rodriguez Orozco (Venezuela) vs. Razvan Arnaut (Romania)

Bronze – Levente Toth (Hungary) vs. Meysam Dalkhani (Iran)


130 kg

Gold – Iakobi Kajaia (Georgia) vs. Fardin Hedayati (Iran)

Bronze – Darius Vitek (Hungary) vs. Seungchan Lee (Korea)

Bronze – Riza Kayaalp (Turkey) vs. Alin Alexuc Ciurariu (Romania)

U.S. Women’s Freestyle Results

55 kg – Amanda Martinez (Riverside, Ill./Cardinal WC/Titan Mercury WC)

WIN Roza Szenttamasi (Hungary), fall, 1:32

WIN Marina Sedneva (Kazakhstan), tech. fall, 12-2

LOSS Jowita Wrzesien (Poland), fall, 2:09

BRONZE Mariana Dragutan (Moldova)


62 kg – Kayla Miracle (Tempe, Ariz./Sunkist Kids WC), eliminated

LOSS Orkhon Purevdorj (Mongolia), 14-10


U.S. Greco-Roman Results

60 kg – Dalton Roberts (Fountain, Colo./U.S. Army WCAP), eliminated

LOSS Abdelkarim Fergat (Algeria), 6-3


130 kg – Adam Coon (Fowlerville, Mich./Cliff Keen WC/New York AC), eliminated

LOSS Abdellatif Mohamed (Egypt), 3-1