Team USA Women's Freestyle Day 1 at Worlds: Maroulis and Guilford Alive for Bronze

Photo: Kaela Belingon

Women's freestyle opened at the 2026 Senior World Championships in Astana with four Americans on the mat: Morgan Turner (50kg), Helen Maroulis (57kg), Kayla Miracle (65kg) and Dymond Guilford (76kg). Two are still alive for a medal. Maroulis and Guilford were both pulled into repechage and are each one win from a bronze-medal match.

Helen Maroulis, 57kg: Back in for Bronze

Maroulis opened with an 11-0 tech fall over Canada's Mia Friesen, then lost 4-2 to Japan's Sena Nagamoto in the quarterfinals. Nagamoto teched Kazakhstan's Nilufar Raimova 11-0 in the semifinals, which pulled Maroulis back into repechage. Nagamoto meets China's top seed Kexin Hong for gold.

Maroulis' repechage match is on Mat C at about 2:43 AM ET Wednesday. A win puts her in a bronze-medal match Wednesday morning.

Dymond Guilford, 76kg: One Win From a Medal Match

Guilford was on a roll before the quarterfinals. She pinned Uzbekistan's Ozoda Zaripboeva in 1:53 and teched Nigeria's Damola Ojo 12-2, then lost a 6-4 match to Ukraine's Anastasiya Alpyeyeva. Alpyeyeva reached the final, so Guilford gets Belarus' Anastasiya Zimiankova in repechage on Mat C at about 1:40 AM ET Wednesday.

Morgan Turner, 50kg

Turner shut out Cuba's Greili Bencosme Carvajal 5-0 in her opener. Her round-of-16 match against Russia's Elizaveta Smirnova ended at 4:30 with Smirnova ahead 9-7, and UWW's official results list it as a disqualification loss for Turner. Smirnova didn't reach the final, so Turner was eliminated.

Kayla Miracle, 65kg

Miracle pinned Turkey's Ayse Erkan in 4:46, then was pinned by Japan's Nana Ikehata at 5:32 in the round of 16. Ikehata didn't reach the final, so there was no repechage for Miracle.

What's Next

Repechage starts overnight, with bronze-medal matches Wednesday morning at 9 AM ET. Women's freestyle continues Wednesday with Precious Wieser (72kg), Cristelle Rodriguez (53kg), Kennedy Blades (68kg) and Adaugo Nwachukwu (62kg), and men's freestyle opens Thursday. Follow every American live on our Team USA Senior Worlds tracker.