Battling till the end, and through an incrededibly difficult draw.

Elena Pirozhkova (63KG) navigated a brutal bracket, defeating the #1, #7, #9, and #10 athletes in succession to put her in to the finals.

Pirozkhova opened with a win over #1-Anastassija Grigorjeva (LAT) before beating #9-Battsettseg Soronzobold of Mongolia, who won Bronze at the London Olympics. Battsettseg was Pirozhkova's lone loss at the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, last year.

In the finals, she faced, what else, another Top 10 opponent, in #5-Yulia Tkach.

Tkach scored early and held a 2-0 lead at the break. Midway through the second period Tkach got put on the shot clock and Pirozhkova took a low shot that was countered to make the deficit 4-2.

Pirozhkova cut that in half with a takedown with thirty seconds to go and pushed the pace the rest of the the way but was unable to score.

It's Pirozhkova's second Silver (2010) and fourth career World medal. She won a World title in 2012 and took Bronze in 2013.

The Silver helped USA earn a team Bronze for the second straight year. Team USA had three medalists: Adeline Gray (Gold/75KG), Helen Maroulis (Bronze/55KG), and Pirozhkova.

Japan and Russia were Gold and Silver as a team, respectively.


Friday Medal Matches
63KG - Gold - #5-Yulia Tkach (UKR) dec. #3-Elena Pirozkhova (USA), 4-2
63KG - Bronze - Valareii Lazinskya (RUS) fall #6-Henna Johannson (SWE)
63KG - Bronze - #1-Anasstasija Grigorjeva (LAT) dec. #10-Monica Michalik (POL), 5-1
63KG Brackets


Friday
U.S. Results
63KG -R1- #3-Elena Pirozhkova dec. #1-Anasstasija Grigorjeva (LAT), 5-4
63KG -R2- #3-Elena Pirozhkova dec. #7-Battsettseg Soronzobold (MGL), 6-4
63KG -QF- #3-Elena Pirozhkova dec. #9-Danielle Lappage (CAN), 2-1
63KG -SF- #3-Elena Pirozhkova vs. #10-Monica Michalik (POL)


Thursday Recap
Adeline Gray (75KG) won her second career World Championship on Thursday night with a victory over Aline Da Silva of Brasil.

Gray opened scoring with a snatch single that Da Silva nearly countered before Gray finished it. The scoring remained 2-0 until Gray was put on the shot clock with under 1:00 to go.

The point was given to Da Silva with :20 to go and Gray hung on for the 2-1 win and the Gold Medal.

Gray also won Worlds in 2012 to go along with Bronze Medals in '11 and '13.


Gray's Run
In a performance that had American fans' hearts pounding, Gray's first three matches were nip and tuck. The wildest was an opening round win over 8th-ranked Feng Zhou of China. Gray was in a 9-2 hole before ralling back with a series of leg laces and a crotch lift at the buzzer to win.

In the second round, Gray faced Yasemin Adar (TUR), whom she beat last year for World Bronze. After a back-and-forth first period, Gray showed great chain wrestling and pinned Adar.

The quartfinals gave Gray a shot at redemption. She beat World #2-Hiroe Suzuki (JPN), who had beat Gray in the previous two meetings.

The only two points scored were on shot clock violations to make it all square at 1 late. Suzuki spent a lot of time in on Gray's legs and lost a challenge on a near takedown before Gray won 2-1.

Surprisingly, Gray's most dominant performance came in the semi's where she controlled #11-Epp Mae (EST). Gray lead 4-0 at the break and was never in danger.

Mae had beaten World #1-Erica Wiebe (CAN) in the quarters.

Gray's opponent in the finals will be the unranked Aline Da Silva.

Alli Ragan (58KG) only front-side loss came to in the quarters to legendary Kaori Icho (JPN), who went on to win her fourteenth straight World/OLY Title.

Ragan came oh-so-close in the Bronze Medal Match, tying the score at 4 at the buzzer, but losing to #7-Anastassia Huchok (BLR) on criteria.

Whitney Condor (53KG) won her first two bouts before falling in the quarters to #3-Mattsson (SWE). She then lost in repechage to close her tournament at 2-2.


Wednesday Medal Matches
53KG - Gold - #1-Saori Yoshida (JPN) dec. #3-Sofia Mattsson (SWE), 6-0
53KG - Bronze - #2-Jill Gallays (CAN) dec. #9-Natalya Malysheva (RUS), 6-2 
53KG - Bronze - Myon Jong (PRK) dec. #7-Natalia Budu (ROU), 11-5
53KG Brackets

58KG - Gold - #1-Kaori Icho (JPN) tf. #3-Valeria Koblova (RUS), 10-0
58KG - Bronze - #7-Anastassia Huchok (BLR) dec. #9-Alli Ragan (USA), 4-4
58KG - Bronze - Elif Yesilirmak (TUR) dec. #17-Lisette Antes (ECU), 8-2
58KG Brackets

75KG - Gold - #5-Adeline Gray (USA) dec. Aline Da Silva (BRA), 2-1
75KG - Bronze - #9-Burmaa Ochribat (MGL) dec. #15-Andrea Olaya (COL), 3-0
75KG - Bronze - #8-Feng Zhou (CHN) dec. #11-Epp Mae (EST), 7-1
75KG Brackets


Thursday
U.S. Results
53KG -R1- Whitney Condor dec. #8-Tatiana Debien (FRA), 6-0
53KG -R2- Whitney Condor dec. #14-Erdennechimeg Sumiya (MGL), 4-4
53KG -QF- #3-Sofia Mattsson (SWE) fall Whitney Condor
53KG -REP1- Myon Jong (PRK) dec. Whitney Condor vs. 

58KG -R1- #9-Allie Ragan dec. #10 (at 60KG) Aisuluu Tynybekhova (KRG), 7-6
58KG -QF- #1-Kaori Icho (JPN)  tf. #9-Allie Ragan, 10-0
58KG -REP1- #9-Allie Ragan, 10-0 tf. Asem Seydametova (UZB)

75KG -R1- #5-Adeline Gray dec. #8-Feng Zhou (CHN), 10-9
75KG -R2- #5-Adeline Gray fall Yasemin Adar (TUR)
75KG -QF- #5-Adeline Gray dec. #2-Hiroe Suzuki (JPN), 2-1
75KG -SF- #5-Adeline Gray dec. #11-Epp Mae (EST), 5-1


Wednesday Recap
Helen Maroulis (55KG) paved the way for the American contingent on the first day of Women at the World Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

In her 5th World appearance, Maroulis racked up two falls to reach the semifinals.

Leading 1-0 at the break over #3-Chiho Hamada (JPN), Maroulis fell late in the match.

In the Bronze bout, Maroulis dominated Poland's Katerzyna Krawczyk from start to finish and captured her second Senior World medal.

At 48KG, Alyssa Lampe, ranked 7th in the world, won her first two matches by fall before losing 14-4 in the quarters to World #2-Erin Tosaka (JPN). Another fall in the repechage put Lampe in the Bronze bout where she had a 4-2 late before being taken down with eight seconds remaining by North Korea's Hyon Kim.

Kim would go on to dominate Iwona Matkowska (POL), who had shocked World #1 Mariya Stadnyk (AZE) in the semifinals.

The two other American ladies wrestling Wednesday, Jenna Burkert (60KG) and Randi Miller (69KG) both lost their opening round bout.


Wednesday Medal Matches
48KG - Gold - #2-Eri Tosaka (JPN) dec. #13-Iwona Matkowska (POL), 10-2
48KG - Bronze - #1-Mariya Stadnyk (AZE) tf. Emilia Vuc (ROU), 10-0
48KG - Bronze - Hyon Kim (PRK) dec. #7-Alyssa Lampe (USA), 4-4
48KG Brackets

55KG - Gold - #3-Chiho Hamada (JPN) dec. #6-Irina Olognova (RUS), 4-3
55KG - Bronze - #4 (at 55KG) Helen Maroulis (USA) tf. Katerzyna Krawlczyk (POL), 10-0
55KG - Bronze - Iryna Khariv (UKR) tf. #19-Karima Sanchez, 11-1
55KG Brackets

60KG - Gold - #6-Tserenchimed Suhkee (MGL) dec. #1-Yulia Ratkevich (AZE), 12-3
60KG - Bronze - #11-Natalia Golts (RUS) tf. #4 (at 58KG) Petra Olli (FIN), 12-1
60KG - Bronze - #8-Taybe Yusein (BUL) dec. #5-Johanna Mattsson (SWE), 6-0
60KG Brackets

69KG - Gold - #7-Aline Focken (GER) dec. #4-Sara Dosho (JPN), 5-4
69KG - Bronze - #6-Laura Skijina (LAT)  fall Diana Gonzalez (MEX)
69KG - Bronze - #1-Natalia Vorobeva (RUS) fall #2-Jenny Frannson (SWE)
69KG Brackets


Wednesday
U.S. Results
48KG -R1- #7-Alyssa Lampe fall Narangerel Erdensukh (MGL)
48KG -R2- #7-Alyssa Lampe fall Hyunyoung Oh (KOR)
48KG -QF- #2-Eri Tosaka (JPN) tf. #7-Alyssa Lampe, 14-4
48KG -REP1- #7-Alyssa Lampe, 14-4 fall Marianna Munoz (MEX)

55KG -R1- #4 (at 53KG) Helen Maroulis fall Elverine Jiminez (NCA)
55KG -QF- #4 (at 53KG) Helen Maroulis fall #11-Altansetseg Battsetseg (MGL)
55KG -SF- #3-Chiho Hamada (JPN) dec. #4 (at 53KG) Helen Maroulis, 6-2

60KG -R1- #3-Katsuki Sakagami (JPN) tf. Jenna Burkert, 10-0

69KG -R1- Agnes Wieszczek-Kordus (POL) fall Randi Miller