Bassett, Blades and Guilford solidify Senior World Team spots

Photo: Dymond Guilford (pictured winning the U.S. Open) defeated Kylie Welker in three matches last Friday. Photo by Tony Rotundo.

By David Gerhart, USA Wrestling

HILLIARD, Ohio – Two-time age-group World champion Bo Bassett and 2022 Senior World Team member Dymond Guilford capped off 2026 Final X, presented by Kerberos Capital Management, with best-of-three series victories on Friday night at Hilliard Davidson High School in Hilliard, Ohio.

Bassett rolled to back-to-back victories and swept 2025 World bronze medalist Real Woods in the men’s freestyle 65 kg series. In the opening match, after a quick exchange that left the score 2-2, Bassett grabbed a 3-2 lead at the break. Over the final three minutes, Bassett pulled away and secured the first match, 8-4. In round two, Bassett erased a 5-1 deficit in the final two minutes to complete the sweep with a 9-5 decision.

Bassett’s victory secures his spot on his first Senior World Team, and he will now compete at three World Championships this year. Bassett already won gold at the U20 World Championships. He will now compete at the Galaxy U23 World Championships in Las Vegas, followed by the Senior Worlds in Astana, Kazakhstan, both in October.

In the women’s freestyle 76 kg wrestle-off, Guilford rallied from dropping the first match of the series to two-time World bronze medalist Kylie Welker and won the final two bouts. After Welker took the opening match, 4-1, Guilford used strong defensive positioning in round two to grab a 3-2 victory.

Guilford kept the momentum going from round two to round three and upended Welker, 7-1. With the match tied at one at the intermission, Guilford took over in the second period with three takedowns to seal the victory.

Guilford, who also won the U23 World silver medal in 2022, has now secured her spot on her second Senior World Team.

Before the opening session, two-time age-group World Team member Isabella Mir withdrew from the women’s freestyle 68 kg best-of-three series. 2024 Olympic silver medalist and 2025 World bronze medalist Kennedy Blades received two forfeits, solidifying her spot on Team USA.

Blades, Guilford and Bassett round out the 30-athlete U.S. Senior World Team that will compete at the 2026 Senior World Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, October 24-November 1.

Archived matches of 2026 Final X, presented by Kerberos Capital Management, are available at FloWrestling.org. Results are available on USA Bracketing.