91°µÍø

BAKU, Azerbaijan – Team USA’s second group of women’s freestyle wrestlers powered its way through the morning session on Thursday, sending four individuals into the semifinals of the 2026 U17 World Championships.

2026 age-group Pan American champions Sophia Valdez (40 kg), Marlee Solomon (53 kg) and Landri Von Gonten (61 kg), along with two-time U17 World champion Taina Fernandez (69 kg), combined for seven bonus wins across their nine combined matches.

Looking for her third-straight World title, Fernandez pinned her way back into the semifinals. In her first match at 69 kg, Fernandez pinned Taniya of India in 1:41. In the quarterfinals, Fernandez needed just 63 seconds to pick up the fall against 2025 U17 World Team member Sophia Anastase of Romania.

Fernandez now takes on Maja Wejchan of Poland in the semifinals.

In 10 career U17 World Championship matches, Fernandez, who is undefeated in those matches, has won nine by either technical fall or pin and has only surrendered points in one of those 10 bouts.

Valdez also bonused her way into tonight’s semifinal round. She first shutout Aiaru Iliyas of Kazakhstan in a 10-0 contest that only lasted 51 seconds. Against Zaytuna Saparova of Uzbekistan, in a tie match and with Saparova looking for a takedown, Valdez held strong in a quadpod and turned the tables for a pin with 18 seconds left in the match.

In the semifinals, Valdez goes up against Natsumi Sasaki of Japan.

Von Gonten had one of the busiest days for the U.S., winning three matches to advance to the semifinals, where she faces Aruzhan Bakytnuy of Kazakhstan. Von Gonten’s first match of the day ended by fall 2:27 into the bout against Avanshika of India. In the round of 16 against 2026 U17 Pan American bronze medalist Marisa Iturrino of Puerto Rico, Von Gonten ran away with a 10-0 tech fall. Von Gonten had a back-and-forth battle with Kamila Temiraeva of Russia that ended in an 8-6 win for Von Gonten, thanks to a late match four-point maneuver to erase a 6-2 deficit.

Solomon rounded out the U.S. semifinalists with a pin of her own in the quarterfinals. Going up against Fatima Bayramova of host country Azerbaijan, Solomon worked for a pin in the final minute. She now takes on 2023 U15 Pan American bronze medalist Alejandra Serrano Roa of Colombia in the semifinals. Solomon’s day began in dramatic fashion. After falling behind 4-0 to 2025 U17 World bronze medalist Mariia Zhytovoz of Hungary, Solomon scored a turn in par terre as time expired to complete the comeback.

Madison Healey rounded out group two for Team USA and is still alive for the repechage round after dropping an 8-2 decision to 2025 U15 Asian champion Kokona Makino of Japan in the quarterfinals. To start the day at 46 kg, Healey pinned Gulnoza Zakirdjanova of Uzbekistan, 1:35 into the bout.

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

Semifinal pairings for women’s freestyle group two (40-46-53-61-69 kg) and complete U.S. results are available below.

Tonight’s semifinals for group two begin at 5 p.m. local time/9 a.m. ET. The medal rounds for women’s freestyle group one (43-49-57-65-73 kg) start 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 .

For live results and updates from the U17 World Championships, follow along with 91°µÍø’s social channels and .