Rodriguez, Janiak to wrestle for women’s freestyle gold, Simon for bronze at U20 World Championships

PONTEVEDRA, Spain – The U.S. earned a pair of women’s freestyle finalists and put another into a bronze medal match as day three of the 2024 U20 World Championships concluded on Wednesday evening at Pontevedra Municipal Sports Hall.

The two returning members from last year’s U20 World Team, Alexis Janiak and Cristelle Rodriguez, are each one win away from gold. Both women impressed with 3-0 records and emphatic semifinal victories to spearhead the Team USA effort.

Rodriguez got the U.S. women on the medal board first with a second period fall against two-time age-group World medalist and reigning U20 European champion Tuba Demir of Turkey in the 55 kg semifinals. Rodriguez trailed 2-0 early after giving up the first takedown but stormed back with a feet-to-back double leg and a go-behind takedown to end the first period on top, 6-2. Rodriguez punctuated the match by countering a double overhook toss from Demir to her back, picking up the fall in 4:08.

Up next for Rodriguez is the gold medal final against U20 Asian bronze medalist Khaliun Byambasuren of Mongolia, which is scheduled for the 6 p.m. local time medal match session tomorrow. Byambasuren took a 1-1 criteria decision over U17 World champion Sakura Onishi of Japan in the opposite semifinal.

It was a similar story for Janiak in her 59 kg semifinal against individual neutral athlete Uladzislava Kudzin, who was a U17 World bronze medalist for Belarus in 2021. Janiak trailed 2-0 after a headlock attempt from Kudzin scored off the opening whistle. The 2-0 deficit held until Janiak was able to convert a takedown-to-lace combination with just under two minutes remaining, pushing out to a commanding 10-2 lead. She rode out the final moments of the match with impressive defense to sail to the finals.

Janiak fell in a controversial semifinal at last year’s event in Amman, Jordan, and wound up with a bronze medal. Now guaranteed at least the upgraded silver, Janiak’s final test will come from Japan’s U17 World champion Sakura Onishi, who won all three of her matches by 10-0 scores.

Two Americans entered the semifinal session with repechage hopes following losses in the preliminary rounds of the event. 76 kg representative Naomi Simon re-entered the tournament after Ukraine’s Mariia Orlevych, who defeated Simon, 9-8, qualified for the gold medal match. At 50 kg, repechage hopeful Anaya Falcon was not granted the same fortune, ending her run in Spain with a 1-1 record.

Due to the smaller bracket size at 76 kg, Simon will not have a repechage match on Thursday morning and has advanced directly to a bronze medal bout against U17 World champion Chisato Yoshida of Japan.

68 kg U.S. entrant Caitlyn Davis was eliminated from medal contention during the morning session after an 0-1 start.

The U20 World Championships continue tomorrow at 10 a.m. local time with the women’s freestyle group one (50-55-59-68-76 kg) repechage and the qualification rounds for women’s freestyle group two (53-57-62-65-72 kg). Pontevedra, Spain, is located six hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time.

A full set of brackets and match-by-match results is available on UWW Arena. A live broadcast of the event is available for the U.S. market at FloWrestling.com.

Stay tuned to TheMat.com and USA Wrestling’s social media platforms for complete coverage of the U20 World Championships.