Kylie Welker wins U23 world gold as Turner and Leydecker take bronze

Welker beat Evelin Ujhelji 10-0 for the women's freestyle heavyweight title, while Morgan Turner and Everest Leydecker won bronze in Las Vegas.

Kylie Welker led the U.S. effort on day 5 of the 2026 U23 World Championships, winning women's freestyle gold at 76kg. She defeated Serbia's Evelin Ujhelji 10-0 by technical superiority in the final, leaving Ujhelji with silver.

Welker went through her bracket without conceding a point. She beat Poland's Patrycja Cuber 11-0, pinned Turkiye's Elmira Yasin with the score at 6-0 and defeated Russia's Mariia Silina 11-0 to reach the final.

At 50kg, Japan's Haruna Morikawa won gold with a 3-0 decision over Ukraine's Aida Kerymova, who took silver. Morgan Turner earned bronze for the United States by beating Romania's Ana Rotaru 6-2 after a 6-10 semifinal loss to Kerymova.

Hungary's Gerda Terek captured the 55kg title by pinning Japan's Yuna Sawatani with the score at 4-1. Sawatani took silver, while Everest Leydecker secured U.S. bronze with an 11-0 technical superiority win over Uzbekistan's Ulmeken Esenbaeva. Leydecker had won her opening three bouts by technical superiority before losing by fall to Terek in the semifinals.

Ukraine's Alina Filipovych claimed gold at 59kg, winning a 4-4 decision over Azerbaijan's Hiunai Hurbanova. Hurbanova finished with silver.

Russia's Alina Shevchenko won the 68kg final by technical superiority, defeating Belarus' Kseniya Tsiarenia 11-0. Tsiarenia earned silver.

U.S. wrestlers Alexis Janiak and Isabella Mir finished without medals. Janiak lost 2-9 to Japan's Natsuki Yamaguchi in qualifying at 59kg. At 68kg, Mir beat Ukraine's Oleksandra Rybak 10-2 before falling 5-7 to Japan's Ray Hoshino in the quarterfinals.

Japan leads the women's freestyle team race with 75 points, followed by Ukraine with 72 and the United States with 55. Russia has 49 and Hungary 35. Iran leads Greco-Roman with 119, ahead of Kazakhstan's 114, Russia's 105, Georgia's 97 and Azerbaijan's 77. In men's freestyle, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus and Brazil are tied at 0 points.