Miracle Advances to Finals on Day 1 in Oslo

Team USA’s Kayla Miracle advances to the finals at UWW World Championships. Photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo/WrestlersAreWarriors.com

by Derek Levendusky, AWW staff writer
Twitter: @AWWderek

OSLO, NORWAY - Only a few short months after the Olympics, U.S. women are back on the mats at the 2021 UWW World Championships in Oslo, Norway. This time, the event features ten weight classes versus the six during Olympic years. 55 kg Jenna Burkert and 62 kg Kayla Miracle started things off early this morning for Team USA, with Miracle making the finals, assuring not only the first medal of the event for U.S. women, but assuring her first-ever medal at the Senior World Championships.

After a heartbreaking exit in the first round at the Olympics, Miracle came to Oslo on a mission the make the podium. Her day started off, however, with adversity, falling behind Gantuya Enkhbat of Mongolia in her first round match 4-0 after Enkhbat hit her with a crafty, Maroulis-like footsweep. From then, it was all Miracle, scoring two takedowns with multiple turns to win it 14-4. The American shook her head in frustration as she walked to the center of the mat to get her arm raised, obviously disappointed she gave up the early lead, though advancing to the quarters. In the quarters, she steadied her performance, gaining another tech fall 13-2 over Russia’s Kasabieva.

Her semifinal was a chess match of positioning, taking out Lais Nunes De Oliveira of Brazil 2-0 to advance to the finals. Miracle scored one in the first period on a shot clock point, and put another point on the board in the second with a step out.

Miracle will wrestle Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan tomorrow in the finals. It will stream live on FloWrestling at noon EST.

55 kg Jenna Burkert, who stole the hearts of the U.S. wrestling community earlier this year when she lost to Helen Maroulis at Olympic Trials only weeks after her mother passed away, fell to 2016 German Olympian Nina Hemmer 14-4 in the first round. However, Hemmer ran the gauntlet to the finals, bringing Burkert back into repechage, where she’ll compete early tomorrow morning (4:30 EST session) with a chance to advance to the bronze match.