Want to be World champion? Consider Beach Wrestling. Elor, Snow, Bommarito did it

For so many wrestlers, the opportunity to represent the United States at a World Championships is a major honor and a highlight of their competitive careers. Berths on a U.S. World Team are few and far between, and very difficult to achieve. There are only so many spots available, and each opportunity is highly competitive.

This is especially true for age-group athletes. While there are tons of opportunities to wrestle on the national, regional and state levels, international trips are hard to come by.

In recent years, an increasing number of young wrestlers have chosen to try out for the U.S. age-group World Teams in Beach Wrestling, and they have received the many benefits of competing overseas. So far, three U.S. age group athletes have been crowned as a UWW Beach World champion.

The first U.S. age-group Beach World champion has gone on to be a two-time Senior World champion and a 2024 U.S. Olympian. When Amit Elor was in Europe for training and competition, she and her coach went to the 2019 U17 Beach World Championships in Odessa, Ukraine. Elor came away with a gold medal in the competition in the Over 50 kg weight class, her first World title in any style.

Since then, Elor has won eight UWW women’s freestyle World titles, two Senior World titles, two U23 World titles, three U20 World titles and one U17 World title.  In April, Elor qualified for her first U.S. Olympic Team at 68 kg and will be competing at the Olympics in Paris, France in August.

The USA had not won an age-group Beach World title again until last year, when the United States came home with two age-group Beach World champions.

Eliana Bommarito of Michigan, a two-time Junior Nationals champion from Michigan at 225 pounds, decided to try Beach Wrestling last year. The highest weight class in college wrestling is 191 pounds, and Bommarito is larger than that division. She went to Indian Hills Community College, in part because the NJCAA women’s wrestling program includes a 235-pound weight class. She won the NJCAA national title in 2023 as a freshman.

The highest weight class in international freestyle wrestling for women is 76 kg, or about 167 pounds. But international Beach Wrestling has an unlimited weight class, and Bommarito found that she was very successful in the Beach discipline. She qualified for the U.S. team for the World Beach Games, scheduled for Bali, Indonesia, but the event was cancelled. She also attended a number of Senior Beach World Series events last season.

Last September, Bommarito travelled to Constanta, Romania to wrestle in two events, the Senior Beach World Series Constanta and the U20 Beach World Championships. First up was the Beach World Series, and Bommarito became the first U.S. wrestler of any gender to win a UWW Senior Beach event, capturing the Over 70 kg title. A few days later, she dominated the U20 Beach World Championships, winning four straight matches, with no match lasting more than 22 seconds. Her finals win lasted only six seconds.

Bommarito also attended the 2023 Beach World Series Final in Mugla, Turkey. She won her second Beach World Series title there, the first U.S. athlete with two Beach World Series golds. Each year, UWW crowns a World champion, based upon the results of the five-event Beach World Series. Based upon her year-long efforts, Bommarito was the 2023 Senior Beach World champion at Over 70 kg, the first in U.S. history. By the way, in 2024 she won her second NJCAA national title for Indian Hills.

Kennedie Snow of North Carolina also decided to take Beach Wrestling seriously in 2023. Snow wrestles on the USA Wrestling age-group national circuit in freestyle. In April, she competed in a state-level Beach event, winning a title in the Atlantic Beach Championships. She also entered the U.S. Beach Nationals a few weeks later in Carolina Beach, N.C., winning golds in the U17 and the 16U age divisions. She decided to compete at the U17 Beach World Championships in Constanta, Romania.

Snow lost her first match at the U17 Beach Worlds to Florentina Mantog of Romania, 3-1, but rallied to place second in Group A, which qualified her for the semifinals. She scored a 4-0 win over Diana Kotvytska of Ukraine in the semifinals, and gave her a rematch against Mantog. Snow’s clutch 3-2 finals victory gave her revenge for the earlier loss and placed her on the top of the podium.

Overall, the USA has won nine age-group World medals, six by women and three by men. Below is the list of past U.S. age-group Beach World medalists.

UWW Age-Group Beach World Medals from the USA

(Age-Group World Championships held, 2019-present)

Women

Amit Elor, Walnut Creek, Calif. (2019 U17 Gold at Over 50 kg)

Eliana Bommarito, Brighton, Mich. (2023 U20 Gold at Over 70 kg)

Kennedie Snow, Havelock, N.C. (2023 U17 Gold, 60 kg)

Alessandra Elliott, Staten Island, N.Y. (2022 U17 Silver, 60 kg)

Kristal Betanzo, Hillsborough, Calif. (2019 U20 Bronze at 50 kg)

Ciara Riner, Huntington, W.Va. (2022 U17 Bronze, 60 kg)

Men

Thor Michaelson, Bremerton, Wash. (2022 U20 Bronze, 80 kg)

Caspian Grabowski, Pacifica, Calif. (2019 U17 Worlds, Bronze at Over 70 kg)

Lars Michaelson, Bremerton, Wash. (2022 U17 Bronze, 80 kg)

There is still time to make plans to compete in the 2024 Carolina Beach Nationals, set for Carolina Beach, N.C., May 11, which is the qualifier for the U.S. teams for the 2024 U17 and U20 Beach World Championships (set for Timisoara, Romania, July 20-21.

There are up to three spots in each weight class for the USA team at the U17 Beach Worlds and the U20 Beach Worlds. It is the goal of U.S. Beach Wrestling leaders to try to field a full team for the 2024 U17 and U20 Beach World Championships.

The team selection priority will be the following for each event:

1. Top four placement at the specific weight class at the 2024 Carolina Beach Nationals, based upon finish.
2. Past U17 or U20 World medalists and past U17 or U20 Pan American medalists
3. Participation at the 2024 Carolina Beach Nationals
4. Open to the general public to athletes that meet age-group and eligibility requirements on a first-come, first served basis

Are you a talented U17 or U20 wrestler? Maybe it is time to give Beach Wrestling a try, and perhaps like Amit Elor, Eliana Bommarito and Kennedie Snow, you might be able to become an age-group World champion!!!

Register for the Carolina Beach World Series