91°µÍø

BAKU, Azerbaijan – Epenesa Elison and Kaili Manuel both punched their tickets to tonight’s semifinals with quarterfinal techs on the opening day of women’s freestyle action at the 2026 U17 World Championships. The U.S. pair both grabbed two bonus victories apiece across their five combined matches at the National Gymnastics Arena.

Returning U17 World silver medalist Elison recorded an 8-2 win to start the day at 57 kg for the U.S. women’s freestyle team. In the round of 32, Elison upended 2025 U17 Asian champion Rion Suzuki of Japan. Elison then started her bonus run against 2025 U17 World Team member Nadiia Zholtikova of Spain in a 12-2 battle.

To finish out her session, Elison recorded a 10-0, 45-second technical fall against two-time U17 World Team member Mia Kovac of Croatia. Elison is back in the semifinals for the second straight year and looks to make a return appearance to the World final.

In the semifinals, Elison faces 2026 U17 Pan American silver medalist Gurleen Dhillon of Canada.

Two-time U17 World team member Manuel bonused her way through the first session at 73 kg. In her first bout, Manuel pinned Bagzhan Kurmanbay of Kazakhstan at the 3:23 mark in the contest. Manuel then powered past Paula Benaixa Perez of Spain in a 12-0 affair.

Manuel’s semifinal opponent is 2024 U15 Asian champion Garima of India.

Lilly Lundy (43 kg), Isla Silva (49 kg) and Eve Skrocki (65 kg) all enter the semifinal round still alive for the repechage.

Silva and Skrocki both lost heartbreakers in their opening matches after allowing points as time expired. Silva lost a 5-3 battle to two-time U17 World Team member and 2026 U17 European champion Olena Kolubai of Ukraine, and Skrocki suffered a 7-6 setback to Aisha Abdimalik of Kazakhstan. Lundy dropped a 10-0 match to Uzbekistan’s Mukhlisa Masharipova, who finished 12th at last year’s U17 World Championships.

For a complete match-by-match breakdown from the morning session for Team USA, visit our day three match notes.

Semifinal pairings for women’s freestyle group one (43-49-57-65-73 kg) and complete U.S. results are available below.

Action from Baku continues tonight at 5 p.m. local time/9 a.m. ET with the semifinals for the first women’s freestyle group. Greco-Roman competition concludes tonight with the medal matches for Greco-Roman group two (45-51-60-71-92 kg) starting at 6 p.m. local time/10 a.m. ET.

Live streams and archived matches are available on in the U.S. market. Brackets and results are hosted on .

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