Greda Terek (Photo UWW)
Greda Terek gave Hungary its first-ever U23 World Championships gold medal in Women’s Wrestling with a stunning performance at 55kg in Las Vegas.
Hungary has won four gold medals in U23 World Championships, all coming in Greco-Roman and the last coming in 2022. The four-year drought ended when Terek pinned Yuna Sawatani of Japan in the 55kg final.
That was not the only exceptional match from Terek in Las Vegas, She won three of her four bouts via fall, including one in the semifinal against U20 world champion Everest Leydecker, handing the United States wrestler her first-ever international loss.
The final was off to a slow start with Terek being put on the activity clock in the first period. That gave Sawatani a 1-0 lead at the break. Sawatani tried a sweep single in the second period but Terek caught her in a cradle and after a one-minute battle, she got the pin to win the gold medal.
“I’ve been dreaming of this for a very long time,” Terek said. ” Finally winning the World Championships. I worked incredibly hard for it, so I never doubted myself for a single second.”
Terek has previously reached the final of the U17 World Championships in 2022 but lost the final. She also has bronze medals from two U20 World Championships.
“I arrived here with the mindset that I am the best and that no one can beat me,” she said. “The time difference and everything else didn’t matter. I just tried to shut everything out and focus solely on becoming a World Champion.”
Terek wrestled four bouts in Las Vegas and won three of them via fall. She defeated Leydecker in the semifinals using the cradle as well.
“It wasn’t necessarily planned this way,” she said. “It just happened like that, but I’m so happy that I ultimately succeeded. There was a tactic I had discussed with my coach beforehand. I managed to stick to it, but we also agreed that if the right opportunity arose, I would seize it.”
At 76kg, Kylie Welker of the USA defended her gold medal with a 50-second 10-0 technical superiority win over Evelin Ujhelji of Serbia. She used a leg-lace to finish off the final.
The gold medal makes Welker the first U.S. wrestler to win the U23 world title three times. She scored a quick takedown and transitioned into a lace and turned the Serbian wrestler four times to finish the final.
At 59kg, Alina Filipovych of Ukraine scored a takedown in the final five seconds to win 4-4 on criteria against Hiunai Hurbanova of Azerbaijan. Filipovych led 2-1 late in the second period when Hurbanova completed an attack to lead 3-2.
Ukraine challenged the call, asking only one point for Hurbanova but Filipovych did give up takedown and the challenge was lost, adding one more point to Hurbanova’s score.
Filipovych had 10 seconds to score at least a two-point takedown for the win and she did that with a leg-attack that Hurbanova failed to defend.
U23 world champion at 53kg in 2025 Haruna Morikawa of Japan moved down to 50kg for the 2026 edition but still managed to win the gold medal after holding on for a 3-0 win over Aida Kerymova of Ukraine in the final.
Alina Shevchenko of Russia gave Russia a gold medal after she defeated Kseniya Tsiarenai of Belarus, 11-0, in the 68kg final.
RESULTS
50kg
GOLD: Haruna MORIKAWA (JPN) df. Aida KERYMOVA (UKR), 3-0
BRONZE: Morgan TURNER (USA) df. Ana ROTARU (ROU), 6-2
BRONZE: Xinyu LIU (CHN) df. Milena DAVITADZE (RUS), 4-0
55kg
GOLD: Gerda TEREK (HUN) df. Yuna SAWATANI (JPN), via fall
BRONZE: Shugyla OMIRBEK (KAZ) df. Snizhana ONUFRIIEVA (UKR), 11-10
BRONZE: Everest LEYDECKER (USA) df. Ulmeken ESENBAEVA (UZB), 11-0
59kg
GOLD: Alina FILIPOVYCH (UKR) df. Hiunai HURBANOVA (AZE), 4-4
BRONZE: Natsuki YAMAGUCHI (JPN) df. Camila AMARILLA (ARG), 10-2
BRONZE: KOMAL (IND) df. Viktoriia KHUSAINOVA (KAZ), 7-2
68kg
GOLD: Alina SHEVCHENKO (RUS) df. Kseniya TSIARENIA (BLR), 11-0
BRONZE: Laura GODINO (ITA) df. Karolina POK (HUN), 6-1
BRONZE: Ray HOSHINO (JPN) df. Gilbery GARCIA (VEN), via fall (4-2)
76kg
GOLD: Kylie WELKER (USA) df. Evelin UJHELJI (SRB), 10-0
BRONZE: Elmira YASIN (TUR) df. Mariia SILINA (RUS), 5-1
BRONZE: Nadiia SOKOLOVSKA (UKR) df. Diksha MALIK (IND), via fall
Semifinals
53kg
SF 1: Cristelle RODRIGUEZ (USA) df. Anastasiia POLSKA (UKR), 3-2
SF 2: Carla JAUME SOLER (ESP) df. Sevval CAYIR (TUR), via fall
57kg
SF 1: Aryna DZEMCHANKA MARTYNAVA (BLR) df. Ichika ARAI (JPN), 7-0
SF 2: Tindra DALMYR (SWE) df. Bertha ROJAS (MEX), 3-1
62kg
SF 1: Adaugo NWACHUKWU (USA) df. Melanie JIMENEZ (MEX), 3-1
SF 2: Iryna BONDAR (UKR) df. Eniko ELEKES (HUN), via fall
65kg
SF 1: Ekaterina KOSHKINA (RUS) df. Narkhajid NYAMSUREN (MGL), via fall
SF 2: Yuqi RAO (CHN) df. Reese LARRAMENDY (USA), 11-0
72kg
SF 1: Amruta PUJARI (IND) df. Wenjin QIU (CHN), via fall (10-8)
SF 2: Iryna ZABLOTSKA (UKR) df. Cassie CORBETT (CAN), 11-4
