USA Wrestling's Next Generation Of Stars On Display At Final X
USA Wrestling's Next Generation Of Stars On Display At Final X
Kennedy Blades, Amit Elor, and Kylie Welker are competing at Final X on Saturday, June 14. And USA Wrestling couldn't be happier.
The future of USA Wrestling’s women’s freestyle program was staring back at them when the final 2022 pound-for-pound high school rankings were released on July 1.
1. Amit Elor, SR, Concord, CA, College Park HS, #1 at 164
2. Kylie Welker, SR, Waterford, WI, Waterford Union HS, #2 at 164
3. Kennedy Blades, SR, Broadview, IL, Wyoming Seminary, #3 at 164
The United States had three transformational seniors at the same weight with World and Olympic gold on their minds.
Blades and Welker were the media darlings at the 2021 Olympic Trials, each reaching the best-of-three finals as 17-year-olds before falling to World champions. Blades eventually won a 2024 Olympic silver medal, and Welker won a bronze medal at the 2024 Senior World Championships a few months later.
Elor missed competing at the 2021 Olympic Trials by a day. Her birthday is January 1, 2004. Had she been born a few hours earlier, she would have been in Fort Worth, Texas, battling Blades or Welker.
It didn’t take Elor long to prove herself. She has won a staggering nine World gold medals, including the 2024 Olympics, by the time she was 20.
Finally, the moment we’ve been waiting for has arrived. Blades, Elor, and Welker are at different weights.
This has happened before, of course. They were on the same 2019 Cadet and 2021 Junior World Championship teams — each winning gold medals at the latter.
Separating them at the senior level would take strategic planning and communication by USA Wrestling’s women’s national team coach, Terry Steiner. And fortunate timing.
“They’re definitely quite a way to finish your lineup,” Steiner said. They’re three very special athletes. They have to find the value in each other and start using each other as much as they can. Eventually, there will be some collision. Hopefully, we can keep them apart for as long as we can.”
Will The Band Get Back Together Again?
Talks With Terry
So, how did it happen?
Blades: “Hopefully, we can pull this off. All three of us are bringing back World medals, but we were fighting each other. I think it’s a perfect lineup and I’m super excited for what’s to come.”
Elor: “I think a lot of it was Terry’s work. I think Terry had something to do with moving us around, but we weren’t aware. It happened to work out that way.”
Welker: “Coach Steiner sat me down and said he didn’t want us at the same weight. In a perfect world, all three of us would be at separate weights to create a stronger Team USA. It made sense.”
All three gave up automatic Final X berths to pull this off, but their reasons are deeper than altruism.
Elor won 68 kg Olympic gold and is moving back to 72 kg, where she won the 2022 and 2023 World Championships.
Blades won 76 kg Olympic silver and is moving down to 68 kg, where she competed at the 2021 Olympic Trials.
Welker won 72 kg World bronze and is moving back up to 76 kg, where she normally competes.
Amit Elor (left) and Kylie Welker drilling together at the 2019 Cadet World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria
Blades Spinning In Motion
Blades moving to 68 set the entire thing in motion. She was light at the Olympics, and Izzy Martinez, her coach, suggested letting her weight drop naturally.
“At the end of one practice, (Coach Izzy) called me about the plan he had. It was a blessing in disguise because I was nervous to speak about it. I could finally sit in Final X. I’ve never done that before. I was #2 in the world.
“I didn’t know if I should make the move. (Izzy’s conversation) was a sign for me. I was willing to go 68 for sure. I like doing Olympic weights, specifically, just because I want to win the Olympics, so 72 wasn’t an option for me in my head, especially since I was walking around at 157 or 158.”
Elor contemplated 72 or 76 but didn’t decide until months after the Olympics. She wanted her body to adjust and make a decision from there.
“Once I told (Terry) it would be 72, I guess that’s the way things played out,” Elor said. “I had no idea whether or not Kylie or Kennedy would go at my weight. It’s just what felt best for my body.
“We’ll have to wrestle if we happen to be at the same weight, since that’s the way things are in wrestling, but for Terry and for our team, it makes sense when I think about it from his perspective to try to separate.
For Welker, it’s about making the 2024 Los Angeles Olympics. She could wrestle at 72 again, but — like Blades — competing at an Olympic weight was important.
“I was down at 72 (last year), and I really liked that weight class, but it’s not an Olympic weight,” Welker said. “In the long run, I felt like moving back up to 76 is good anyway because I would have had to do it eventually. That also went into it.”
And here’s the kicker. Blades, Elor, and Welker are not guaranteed spots at the World Championships, despite being the favorites. Brooklyn Hays (68), Alex Glaude (72), and Dymond Guilford (76) will have their say at Final X.
“It’s super cool in general for our women that the U.S. upper weights have been dominant and strong,” Elor said. “We’ll see how Final X goes, but no matter who we send, we’re going to have a very strong team, especially in the upper weights. It’s going to be hard for countries to get past us with the combination of the three of us.”
Otherworldly Credentials
No wonder Steiner wants Blades, Elor, and Welker on Team USA. Below are the World and Olympic results for all three 21-year-olds.