Twice as nice - Welker/Kilty cap Iowa's super World Championships

The Iowa women’s wrestling program had a pair of athletes accomplish an incredible feat today at the World Championships in Tirana, Albania.

In fact, it would’ve been incredible had Kylie Welker and Macey Kilty merely realized said feat all by itself.

Instead, the two both went ahead and pulled off one of the rarer achievements you’ll ever see in high-level international wrestling.

Just five days ago they were competing in the U23 World Championships final – where they’d earn gold (Welker – 72 kilograms) and silver (Kilty – 62kg) medals respectively.

Fast-forward to this afternoon (evening in Tirana) and the duo won a pair of bronze medal matches at the Senior World Championships to double their carry-on haul(s) going back to the United States.

I recapped their U23 journeys in a Sunday article – which I’d encourage folks to check out if they haven’t already.

This time we’ll dive into the Senior tournaments for the 20 (Welker) and 23-year-old (Kilty) Hawkeyes.

Welker forges new ground in return trip to Senior stage

The last time Kylie Welker competed at a Senior World Championships (2021) it was over after a single solitary match.

This go around she was determined to make a deeper run, and that’s exactly what she did.

A 2-0 start saw Welker go unscored upon in a tech. fall victory (10-0) over Canada and a cagey yet controlling 4-0 win against a Frenchwoman who was the first athlete on the wrong side of the ‘bubble’ in qualifying for the Paris Olympics.

That set the stage for a quarterfinal match which may have been Welker’s best singular performance of the past week in Albania.

Facing 2024 Asian Champion Qian Jiang of China, the American took ground for much of the first period (picking up a shot clock point in the process) before Jiang struck for a takedown and a 2-1 lead at the break. Both the score and tenor of the match would hold until only a minute remained on the clock.

And that’s when Welker erupted.

A feet-to-back takedown was initially awarded four points, then changed to a caution-and-one giving the Hawkeye a 3-2 edge. But rather than sit on her lead Welker went right back to the well and ended the match for good.

The combination of poise and tenacity from the 20-year-old spoke volumes about her growth from previous appearances on this type of stage. It also guaranteed that Welker would wrestle for a World Championship medal of some sort.

Showing mettle to earn a medal

Of all the competitors in the bracket at 72 kilograms Japan’s Ami Ishii always loomed largest.

Both Ishii and Welker had largely dominated their way through Albania up until that point. And in fact, Ishii was coming off a U23 World title of her own just days before (at 68kg).

It’ll be a clash of titans in the 72kg World Championships semifinal b/t 🐤🇺🇸Kylie Welker & 🇯🇵Ami Ishii.

Each won U23🥇 a few days ago & have outscored their opponents across both tourneys by huge margins (48-3 for Welker, 52-2 for Ishii).

Here’s their past credentials to date: pic.twitter.com/fCUlAcNIBZ

— Tanner Lafever (@TannerLafever) October 29, 2024

In their first-ever meeting Ishii proved to have all the answers – consistently keeping Welker at bay with lightning-quick low-level fakes and shots.

A six-point scramble in favor of Japan nearly wound up in a pin as time expired in the first period and Ishii continued to control the action after the break. The latest in a long line of elite women’s wrestlers for her country finished off the 12-1 tech. fall with two seconds left.

Suddenly Welker’s title dreams had been dashed and a nearly 27-hour wait would begin. That’s how long it’d be until she returned to the mat for the bronze medal match.

Her opponent would be a seasoned veteran at Senior Worlds – and a 2022 bronze medalist herself – Romania’s Alexandra Nicoleta Anghel.

It quickly became apparent that any lingering regrets over her semifinal had all but left Welker’s system entirely.

Welker controlled the center and the action to build a 3-0 lead at the break. She’d extend her margin to five when Anghel was forced to attack, then smartly defend to preserve the victory (5-2).

It was an incredibly professional performance from an athlete whose age continues to belie her ever-growing list of accomplishments.

As a result, Welker will return to Iowa City with a Senior World Championships bronze medal in tow.

And if you watch her post-tournament interview (below) it’s clear that neither the experience nor the achievement have been lost on her:

Kilty capitalizes to earn hardware (once again)

I said it in my preview and I’ll say it again now:

When Macey Kilty goes to the World Championships you can almost always count on her winding up on the podium.

And what do you know, after her U23 silver medal at 62kg last week she did it again by earning bronze up more than 6.5 pounds in the 65-kilogram weight class at the senior level.

(It’s just what she does, you guys.)

Her road wasn’t without its detours and potholes, however.

An opening round forfeit meant that Kilty had no live mat time heading into her quarterfinal bout. Whether that mattered or not, the Wisconsin native still led 2-1 at the break against Kateryna Zelenykh (Romania) thanks to a two-point exposure.

But everything would flip 1:15 into the second period when the Romanian caught Kilty for a feet-to-back double-leg takedown. Now trailing 5-2, Kilty never really regained her footing in the match. Another four-point takedown ostensibly put things out of reach and the American was left to hope her foe would reach the final to pull her back into repechage.

Thankfully, Zelenykh – a four-time age-level medalist – would do exactly that and Kilty knew the bronze was just two wins away.

She’d get on top early on Day 2, rolling through a 2019 bronze medalist from Azerbaijan with a vicious leg lace (12-2).

Now needing only one more victory, Kilty was quickly staring at a 5-0 deficit against an opponent whom she’d beaten 10-0 en route to silver a year ago.

That wouldn’t last as the Hawkeye went takedown-turn-turn-turn (x2) on either side of the intermission to drop the hammer on a 16-5 tech. fall.

With the bronze medal now gratefully in hand, Kilty spoke with USA Wrestling to assess her week-plus stay in Alabania:

Double-dipping sure ain’t easy

Before we wrap things up, I just want to lend a bit of additional context to the feat accomplished by these two Hawkeyes in medaling twice within the span of a few days.

Welker (U23 gold/Senior bronze) and Kilty (U23 silver/Senior bronze) were among only four athletes to earn medals at both World Championship tournaments.

The other two? Well, they just so happen to comprise two of the three opponents to defeat the Iowa wrestlers in Albania – Japan’s Ami Ishii (U23 gold/Senior gold) and Romania’s Kateryna Zelenykh (U23 bronze/Senior silver).

That was the company kept by Welker and Kilty this week.

Now, they’ll return to Iowa City where 30 of their teammates await them – hungry to get in a scrap in the practice room so that some day soon they too can stand on the podium at a World Championship event.

But first, for all of them, the college season awaits – starting this Saturday at the Luther Hill Open.

Given what we just witnessed in Albania the rest of women’s college wrestling back stateside had better watch out.

Kylie Welker and Macey Kilty are better than they’ve ever been. So, what would make anyone think that their Hawkeye teammates aren’t as well?