Recap, Day 1 at World Championships: Winchester & Francis in Medal Matches
Team USA’s 55 kg Jacarra Winchester advances to finals with 6-4 win in semi.
by Derek Levendusky, AWW Staff Writer
50 kg Whitney Conder
Conder ran into the brick wall defense of Son Hyang Kim of North Korea in the first round, falling 6-0. Shot after shot was blocked by Kim’s head-hands defense and Conder had no answer this time. Kim is the same opponent Conder ran into in her first match last year, meeting the same 0-1 fate at her hands. Kim ended up in 5th place in 2018. She will not place this year as she was eliminated by #3 seed Yanan Sun of China.
53 kg Sarah Hildebrandt
Though Sarah was the #1 seed, her quad was brutal, and evidence of the absurd draws one can receive at Worlds. Her quad included Mayu Mukaida of Japan, who won the world title last year at 55 kg, and 7x world medalist Sofia Mattsson of Sweden, who won gold in 2009 and Olympic bronze in 2016. Meanwhile, the younger Vinesh Vinesh Phogat of India is in the shadows. She’s the younger sister of Geeta and Babita, made famous by the movie Dangal. Hildebrandt, after a first round bye, took care of business in her second round match versus Thi Dao Bui of Vietnam, securing the tech fall after a front headlock go-behind and 4 laces. Meanwhile, Vinesh Vinesh shocked Mattsson with a dominating 13-0 tech fall. Mukaida took care of Vinesh the next round, setting up the Hildebrandt-Mukaida quarterfinal matchup, which many thought could be the final. Because Mukaida didn’t do the rankings tournaments required to get a high seed, she ended up in Hildebrandt’s quad by random draw. With Mukaida’s slick & quick, close-to-the-mat wrestling, she found ways to get to Hildebrandt’s legs, eventually securing the 12-1 tech fall. Mukaida then won her semi 4-0 over Greece’s Maria Prevolarak, keeping Hildebrandt alive in repechage. Tomorrow, Hildebrandt will face the winner of Vinesh Vinesh (India) vs. Yuliia Khavaldzhy Blah (Ukraine). She’ll need to win that to make the bronze match, where she would face Prevolarak.
55 kg Jacarra Winchester
After last year’s devastating last-second semifinal loss, where she eventually fell to 5th place, Winchester breaks through to the finals this year with a 6-4 win over Bediha Gun of Turkey. Here we must pause and note the name of the semifinal matchup. It indeed was a Winchester-Gun semi. Truly epic. Now back to our scheduled programming. After dominating tech falls over Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia, Winchester dug deep in her semi and found ways to score, getting in on Gun’s legs, lifting her opponent off the mat to finish her takedowns. The referee didn’t do much to dispel the reputation of anti-US sentiment at Worlds, calling stalemates seconds after Winchester’s takedowns, seemingly eager to make negative calls against Winchester at the end of the match. Up 6-3, Winchester was hit with a quick caution-and-1 with 8 seconds on the clock. She held on the get the win and advance to the finals, giving Team USA our first medal of the 2019 World Championships. Winchester will face Nanami Irie of Japan, who knocked off 2018 world champion Haruna Okuno in a wrestle-off to win the team spot. Nanami is the sister of Yuki, who wrestled at 50 kg, and also beat a world champion—2x champion Yui Susaki—to win the team spot.
72 kg Victoria Francis
After a one-and-out in 2017, Francis ends the day in the bronze match. She started her competition against Canadian Dejah Anie Slater, and Francis was obviously the stronger wrestler. Getting to her positions early, she barred up Slater and scored the fall at the 2:30 mark. In the quarters, Francis faced off with 2013 World Champion Alina Berezhna Stadnik of Ukraine. The first period seemed to be going the way of a hand fighting chess match, when suddenly Stadnik hit Francis with a southpaw headlock. The entire watching USA wrestling community must have simultaneously gasped (or cursed), because it wasn’t just exposure, but put Francis right to her back and in a fight to keep the match alive as Stadnik squeezed tight. Francis fought for the better part of a minute before finding a way out, though that throw ended up being the difference in the match as Francis lost 4-0. When Stadnik won her next round semifinal, that victory not only brought Francis back into the tournament, but put her in the bronze match as she inherited a bye from the other side of her bracket. Francis will wrestle Paliha Paliha of China for the bronze medal tomorrow.