Welker Wins Third-Straight Gold Medal at U23 World Championships

Fifth-year University of Iowa women's wrestler Kylie Welker (76 kg) earned her third consecutive gold medal at the U23 World Championships on Thursday night in Las Vegas, Nev. She is the first American and first women's freestyle wrestler to win three consecutive U23 championships. 

Welker's finals match was over in a flash, securing a 10-0 technical fall over Serbia's Evelin Ujhelji in just 48 seconds. Welker went 4-0 in her bracket and ended each match short of regulation, defeating Poland's Patrycja Dorta Cuber in the qualifying round and Russia's Mariia Silina in the semifinals, respectively, to sandwich a 1:05 dominant fall over Turkey's Elmira Yasin in 1:05 in the quarterfinals.

Hawkeye teammates Everest Leydecker (55 kgs) and Reese Larramendy (65 kgs) each started their brackets off strong with victories before falling in the semifinals. Leydecker bounced back for bronze with an 11-0 technical fall over Ulmeken Esenbaeva (Uzbekistan), while Larramendy concludes her run with a third-place battle at 8 p.m. (CT) on Friday.