Parrish captures gold; Hildebrandt and Velte earn bronze at Worlds

Photo: Dom Parrish celebrates with an American flag after the native of California captured the United States’ first gold medal at the 2022 UWW World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia. (Justin Hoch photo)

By Mike Finn

Dom Parrish made the most of her first UWW Senior World Championships when the native of Scotts Valley, Calif., won the 53-kilogram women’s freestyle championship Wednesday in Belgrade, Serbia.

It turned out to be a very successful Wednesday for the American women as Sarah Hildebrandt (50k) and Mallory Velte (65k) captured bronze medals, and three more Americans — Helen Maroulis (57k), Tamyra Mensah Stock (68k) and Amit Elor (72k) — will wrestle for gold medals Thursday in Stark Arena.

Overall, the United States women’s freestyle squad has clinched seven medals in the 10 weight classes as Kayla Miracle captured a silver medal at 62 kilos on Sept. 13.

WIN Magazine will provide comprehensive coverage of the 2022 Worlds, including men’s freestyle and Greco-Roman, in the next issue that will be printed Sept. 29. Click here or call 888-305-0606 to subscribe to WIN Magazine.

Parrish, 25, reached the finals with a pair of technical falls and a 3-1 victory in the semifinals on Tuesday. In the gold-medal match, Parrish edged Khulan Batkhuyag of Mongolia, 4-2; then celebrated by putting her head down on the mat, pounded the mat and raised her arms as victor as she stood up.

Hildebrandt, who had won two World silver medals in 2018 and 2021 as well as an Olympic bronze medal last summer, dominated Emilia Vuc of Romania in the bronze medal bout for her third technical fall of the tournament. The 28-year-old native of Granger, Ind., lost 6-2 to Otgonjargal Dolgorjav of Mongolia in the semis.

Velte, whose also earned a World bronze medal in 2018, dominated Mimi Hristova of Bulgaria. The only loss for the 27-year-old native of Sacramento, Calif., was a 2-0 quarterfinal loss to Miwa Morikawa of Japan.

2022 UWW World Championships Women’s Freestyle

U.S. Results and Match Notes – Sept. 14

50 kg: Sarah Hildebrandt (Colorado Springs, Colo./USOPTC/New York AC) – bronze

Sarah Hildebrandt (left) beat Emilia Vuc for the bronze medal at 50 kilos after being choked out by the Romanian. (Justin Hoch photo)

1^st round – won by TF over Kamila Barbosa Da Silva (Brazil), 10-0 (1:39) — Hildebrandt scored the bout’s only takedown off an ankle pick 30 seconds into the match, then needed 10 seconds to execute four leg laces.

Quarterfinal – won by TF over Oksana Livach (Ukraine), 10-0, (5:14)— Hildebrandt scored four takedowns, including a knee tap that put the Ukrainian on her back for a 7-0 lead. The American ended the match when she countered a single with 46 seconds left.

Semifinal – lost to Otgonjargal Dolgorjav (Mongolia), 6-2 — The much shorter Mongolia clinched the victory with three seconds left when she fought off a single-leg shot by Hildebrandt, who led 2-0 off a scramble 15seconds into the match. An arm spin gave Dolgorjav her first takedown, she then earned two exposure points when Hildebrandt failed to successfully lift her opponent with 35 seconds left in the first period and Dolgorav got the points instead.

Bronze Medal – won by TF over Emilia Vuc (Romania), 10-0, 5:39 – Hildebrandt scored three takedowns to clinch her third World medal. The only scare for the American happened with 50 seconds left in the first period when Vuc’s front headlock was hiding an illegal choke hold as she turned Hildebrandt over for two points and would have pinned the unconscious American had officials not realized what happened. But after Hildebrandt came to after some medical attention, the turn sequence was ruled illegal and the points were taken off the board.

53 kg: Dom Parrish (Tempe, Ariz./Sunkist Kids) – gold

Dom Parrish (left), who beat Khulan Batkhuyag of Mongolia for the gold medal at 53 kilos, is one of three Americans who wrestled in college at Simon Fraser in Canada. (Justin Hoch photo)

1^st round – won by TF over Mercedesz Denes (Hungary), 10-0, 5:58 — Parrish scored five takedowns, the final one coming with two seconds left.

Quarterfinals – won by TF over Lucia Yepez Guzman (Ecuador), 10-0, 1:39 – Parrish scored the only takedown midway through the first period, which set up four leg-laces for the technical fall.

Semifinal – dec. Maria Prevolaraki (Greece), 3-1 – All of Parrish’s points came while Prevolaraki was on the shot clock as Parrish scored a single-leg takedown, then added another point when the Greek wrestler failed to score with a minute left in the first period.

Gold-Medal Bout: dec. Khulan Batkhuyag (Mongolia) 4-2 — Parrish clinched her first World title by scoring a takedown with 2:05 left in the match by countering a throw-by attempt by the Mongolian. The American jumped on top with a takedown 22 seconds into the match before the Batkhuyag tied the bout 26 seconds into the second with a takedown of her own.

65 kg: Mallory Velte (Corvallis, Ore./Beaver Dam RTC/Titan Mercury WC) – bronze

Mallory Velte earned her second all-time World bronze medal when she dominated Mimi Hristova of Bulgaria. (Justin Hoch photo)

1^st round – won by TF over Perevsuren Ulziisaikhan (Mongolia), 14-4 – Velte scored five takedowns, including a power double that put the Mongolian on her back with 12 seconds left in the match. Ulziisaikhan scored her points when she reversed Velte to her back with 2:20 left in the match and with 53 seconds left when the American got hit with a caution-and-2.

Quarterfinal – lost to Miwa Morikawa (Japan), 2-0 — Morikawa scored the bout’s only takedown with 1:02 left in the first period, 18 seconds after she had been put on the shot clock.

Bronze-Medal Bout: def. Mimi Hristova (Bulgaria) 11-2 – Velte only led 4-2 with two minutes left in the bout before scoring three takedowns and a step-out for her second World medal.

76 kg: Dymond Guilford (Colorado Springs, Colo./USOPTC/Titan Mercury WC) – dnp

Prelim – lost to Yuka Kagami (Japan), 3-0 — Two of Kagami’s points came when Guilford was twice put on a shot clock. She was eliminated when Kagami lot to Yasemin Adar (Turkey) in the quarterfinals.