U23 World Championship recap: Welker's gold leads Iowa wrestling
University of Iowa wrestling programs sent four different athletes to compete at the Under-23 World Championships this week.
Of the quartet that traveled almost 5,300 miles to Tirana, Albania, half of them will be bringing home U23 World medals to Iowa City – headlined by Kylie Welker’s gold at 72 kilograms.
Over four days of competition there were plenty of triumphs and plenty of heartbreak. That tends to be the case when it comes to this sport.
All in all, it was an excellent showing for the Hawkeyes. And in fact, two of them will be extending their stay in Tirana for a few more days with an eye toward earning some additional hardware at the Senior tournament.
But we can get to that later.
Let’s start with a historic accomplishment for Iowa (and Team USA) women’s wrestling courtesy of Kylie Welker.
Welker won’t be denied en route to U23 title
I wrote in my preview article for this event that U23’s marked an important return to the World stage for Iowa’s 2024 NCWWC national champion.
Kylie Welker hadn’t competed at a World Championship event since doing so in three-consecutive tournaments over the span of a few months as a high schooler back in 2021. And when speaking with reporters at team Media Day a week-and-a-half ago she gave the impression that she was very much looking forward to making up for lost time.
Mission accomplished (and then some).
The 20-year-old stormed her way to a U23 title at 72 kilograms (~158.7 pounds) – outscoring her four opponents by a combined margin of 31-1.
Consecutive shutout tech. falls versus Kazakhstan and Turkey advanced Welker on to the semifinals. There, she’d face her stiffest challenge of the tournament against Ukraine’s Anastasiya Alpyeyeva.
The Ukrainian boasted a serious list of credentials entering the week – including three-consecutive U23 medals (2021 gold), a pair of Senior World Championship appearances (2022-23) and a narrow 5-4 defeat to Olympic silver medalist (and new Hawkeye) Kennedy Blades back in January.
Welker trailed 1-1 on criteria with roughly 75 seconds remaining when she shot a beautiful low lefty single leg and was able to finish for the takedown. The 3-1 lead would stand up to earn the Wisconsin native her second-ever appearance in a World final.
From there it was quick and utter dominance:
Canada’s Vianne Rouleau had no answer for the Hawkeye right from the jump, and Welker would secure the 1:11 fall (and U23 gold) after locking up a mean cradle.
You can hear Welker’s post-tournament comments courtesy of USA Wrestling, but in short, she’s happy and ready for more:
“I came here to win two World titles. So, first one down.”
Kilty medals (again) – earning silver at 62 kilograms
The other U23 medalist for Iowa wrestling in Tirana was an athlete who’s grown incredibly familiar with the feel of a World Championship medal around her neck.
Macey Kilty is now a seven-time World medalist (all age levels) after her runner-up finish at 62 kilograms (~136.7 pounds).
The offseason transfer to the Iowa room was Welker-esque in her own dominance through most of the tournament, earning bonus points in four-consecutive matches to reach the final.
Kilty’s toughest test along the way came in the Round of 16. Trailing 2024 Olympian Esther Omolayo Kolawole (Nigeria) 3-1 with a minute to go in the bout, the American methodically converted a high-crotch attempt to regain the lead.
Unsatisfied with merely a criteria advantage (3-3), Kilty managed to hold the Nigerian in danger and eventually secure the fall – her second in as many matches.
The 23-year-old would cap Day 1 with a pair of tech. falls to earn the chance to wrestle for gold.
Unfortunately, the final played out less favorably.
Kilty was first to a leg, but her Ukrainian opponent – Iryna Bondar – was able to counter for a go-behind and subsequent turn. That 4-0 score stood up until the final moments of the first period when the Hawkeye converted a takedown with tenths of a second remaining.
A failed challenge by the Ukrainian corner made it 4-3 at the break.
As if on repeat, Kilty gave up a similar pair of 2+2 exchanges in the second period on simple go-behinds and immediate turns.
The final score – 12-3.
Bondar now owns two World titles in as many months, having won U20’s in early-September – plus three other medals from World Championship events in 2022-23.
Here are Kilty’s post-match thoughts from Albania:
Kennedy falls achingly short of a medal match
The only thing worse than just missing out on a gold medal is just missing out on the opportunity to wrestle for any medal at all.
Such was the fate that befell Patrick Kennedy on Saturday afternoon in Albania.
The Hawkeye started out in impeccable fashion.
A measured, relentless pace/pressure finally broke two-time U20 bronze medalist Mukhammad Abdullaev (Kyrgyzstan) and Kennedy ran away with an 11-0 tech. fall.
He was even better in the Round of 16 – building a 6-0 lead before countering a duck attempt from the Swiss opponent straight to his back for the first-period fall.
Everything was going PK’s way as he charged into the quarterfinals.
What happened next is still hard to stomach as a wrestling fan.
After Masaki Sato struck for an early takedown the 2021 Japanese Senior World teamer arguably didn’t take another step forward (nor any offensive initiative whatsoever) for the next 5:40.
Time and time again Kennedy horsed Sato to the edge – whose only idea of recourse was to ‘ground’ himself before going out of bounds in hopes of avoiding a step out point and/or stall between restarts to catch his breath that was already waning minutes into the bout.
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Kennedy led 4-2 with 1:05 to go with all his points coming via step outs, plus a few more that easily could’ve been granted by the mat officials. But a pair of errant shot attempts led to go-behinds and a 6-4 advantage to Japan.
Two more step outs still left Kennedy trailing on criteria with 0:21 left, and a last-ditch effort fell short.
8-6 – Japan.
In truth, Sato should’ve been DQ’d via three cautions with time to spare. Instead, he’d eliminate PK from the tournament after later getting demolished 12-1 in the semis.
Yeah, this one will really sting.
Realin goes 0-1, but stands atop the podium anyway with Team USA
The fourth and final U23 competitor for Iowa wrestling had the shortest stay of the bunch.
Junior Skye Realin drew 2021 (U20) World champion Alesia Hetmanava (Individual Neutral Athlete) in her opening bout of the tournament at 59 kilograms (~130.1 pounds).
Hetmanava would prove to be too much for the first-year Hawkeye, capping a 10-0 win early in the second period.
The brutal reality of this level of international competition would only be reinforced from there, as Hetmanava immediately turned around and lost to another previous World champion – a 2022 U23 gold medalist from Japan – in her quarterfinal.
Those back-to-back outcomes would eliminate Realin from the tournament after just one match.
(Like I said, these World Championship fields are no joke.)
Any personal disappointment aside, Realin wouldn’t leave Albania completely empty handed. That’s because she’d stand atop the podium with the rest of her teammates in a historic moment for Team USA:
The 2024 team title wasn’t the only history made at U23 Worlds by the Americans either.
The women’s team also set new highs in medals won (five) and individual champions crowned (three) – thanks in no small part to the three-person Hawkeye contingent on the roster.
It was yet another important step forward for US women’s wrestling, which continues to make them in seeming leaps and bounds over the past few years.
And in just two days both Team USA and a pair Hawkeyes will have another opportunity to make a statement on the international stage.
Senior Worlds up next for Welker/Kilty
Both Kylie Welker (72kg) and Macey Kilty (65kg) can add even more hardware to their carry-on luggage courtesy of the Senior World Championships set to be held at the same venue in Albania where both Hawkeyes just reached the U23 finals.
I detailed the challenges that lie ahead for both wrestlers in my all-encompassing preview article.
This marks the second career appearance at Senior Worlds for each of the two Wisconsin natives. Welker (0-1 as a 17-year-old in 2021) and Kilty (silver a year ago) will both be looking to improve upon their past efforts when competition gets underway early Tuesday morning.
Here’s an outline of the schedule for Iowa wrestling fans to refer back to:
Tuesday, October 29th
3:30 a.m. – Women’s Freestyle qualification rounds
9:45 a.m. – Women’s Freestyle semifinals
Wednesday, October 30th
3:30 a.m. – Women’s Freestyle repechage (consolations)
11:00 a.m. – Women’s Freestyle finals/medal matches
All the action will be streaming live on FloWrestling (subscription required) at THIS LINK.
Every match will also be archived, so if the early start times mean you miss some matches live you can always go back and catch up later.
Short time
One final bit of Iowa wrestling history was also made on Friday.
With Welker’s World title the redshirt sophomore became the first current athlete in the history of the women’s program to win World/Olympic gold at any age level.
A few current Hawkeyes have won gold in their careers prior to enrolling at Iowa (including Welker’s U20 triumph in 2021), but this was the first such occasion while under the tutelage and leadership of head coach Clarissa Chun and her coaching staff.
I very much doubt it will be the last.
Thanks as always to everyone for reading. I’ll be back in a few days to recap the performance at Senior Worlds. Meanwhile, we’re somehow less than a week away from Iowa wrestling’s first official competition(s) of the 2024-25 college schedule (November 2nd).
Buckle up, folks.
If there was ever any doubt, we’re smack dab in the middle of wrestling season now.
