Team USA continues their winning ways in Belgrade in day 5 of this week-long wrestling bonanza. Four new American freestyle wrestlers will take the mat while four other Americans will try to earn medals. 

Other World Championship Live Blogs: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4

The four Americans that start their quests for glory in Serbia are the following:

53kg: Dom Parrish

62kg: Kayla Miracle

68kg: Emma Bruntil

72kg: Amit Elor

The four wrestlers who started their tournament yesterday all have matches as well. Adeline Gray is in the repechage at 76kg with a good shot at bronze, which would be her 10th world or Olympic medal. Macey Kilty already has at least a silver locked up as she si in the 65kg finals. And Jacarra Winchester and Sarah Hildebrandt are in the bronze medal matches at 55 and 50 kilograms respectively. 

Prelims & Repechage

76kg Repechage - Adeline Gray, USA vs Yuanyuan Huang, CHN - Gray will have Huang of China, who defeated Lithuania to earn the privilege of wrestling Gray. Huang goes for a fireman's early but Gray turns t into her points, then gets a turn in par terre for an early 4-0 lead.. Gray steps in for a single leg, gets a takedown, then slaps in a half nelson and cranks Huang over for the pinfall. Dominant win by Adeline Gray! She'll next wrestle Marin of Cuba for bronze, which would be her 10th world or Olympic medal overall. 

53kg - Dom Parrish, USA vs Antim, India - Parrish takes the mat in the round of 32 against India to begin her quest for back-to-back gold medals. A quick snap down go-behind for Parrish and she's on her way with a 2-0 lead early in the first. Both wrestlers take several shots over the course of the first period but no more scores, still 2-0 at the break. Second period, not scores after 90 seconds, Parrish goes on the clock. Then Antim shoots in and has a single leg. She climbs up and collects two for the lead via criteria. Plus the shot clock point and Antim has the lead outright at 3-2. Dom furiously attacking, but Antim sprawls each time. Dom can't find a way through, and Antim will take it 3-2. Tough loss for Parrish. Antim will have to win her next three to make the finals and pull Parrish into the repechage for a shot at bronze. 

62kg - Kayla Miracle, USA vs Subeen Jo, KOR - A South Korean opponent faces off against Miracle, as Kayla starts her quest for a third world medal. Miracle has a two-on-on, then shoots in for a single to a double which she finishes for two. Another shot by Miracle but she's stopped and pancakes for two for Jo. Miracle recovers quickly and collects one, then slaps in a leg lace and turns Jo twice to take a 2-2 score and turn it into a 7-2 lead. Second period starts, shot from Miracle gets stuffed. Miracle's next shot turns into two more points after a violent scramble. Tack on another turn to make it 11-2. Miracle stops Jo's next shot. A step out seals the deal for Miracle and she has a tech fall to start her tournament!

68kg - Emma Bruntil, USA vs Alexandra Anghel, ROU - Bruntil starts her day with Romania. No scores after a minute. Slide by for Anghel and she's collects the first two. And that's all the scoring in the first period. Heavy hands from Bruntil in the second, and she snaps Anghel down, spins and has two points, and more importantly the lead via criteria. Anghel attacking but Bruntil controlling ties. Front head lock for Bruntil in short time, and Bruntil's defense will hold. Emma Bruntil wins a hard fought round of 16 bout. She'll have China next. 

72kg - Amit Elor, USA vs Nesrin Bas, Turkey - The last American to take the mat for the first time is Elor, who has Turkey to begin her quest for consecutive gold medals. Snap down go-behind (you may hear that a lot during Elor's matches) and a 2-0 lead for Elor early in the first. Elor drives Bas out of bounds in her next exchange but its ruled grounded action. Elor again drives Bas to the boundary and this time gets two more to make it 4-0. That's how the period ends. Bas stays aggressive in the second. Elor parries away a couple of upper body throw attempts. Bas goes on the activity clock, and while its still counting down Elor slips through Bas' defenses for another takedown. Plus the clock point and Elor leads 7-0 late in the match. Bas trying to pick up the pace, but Elor is matching her and then some. Defenses hold up for the American, and that's the final, 7-0 win for Elor!

68kg - Emma Bruntil, USA vs Feng Zhou, CHN - Bruntil has China for a spot in the semifinals. No scores after a minute or so. Then Bruntil shoots in for a single, finishes clean and has the first point of the match with a takedown. Underhook for Zhou and she drives Bruntil out of bounds to cut the lead in half before the break. Bruntil shoots in early in the second period. She has two but Zhou counters for two for herself. Bruntil comes out on top to make it a 3-2 sequence and she leads 5-3. Bruntil defending, a scramble in short time, and Bruntil will take it! There’s a yolo challenge from China but it fails, 6-3 official, and Bruntil advances to the quarters!

65kg - Kayla Miracle, USA vs Kriszta Incze, ROU - Another Romanian opponent for an American. Handfighting but not much else after a minute. Slide by for Incze and she has a two point lead 90 seconds into the bout. Another slide by attempt late in the first but Miracle is able to defend to a stalemate. Or not. Looks like two goes on the board for Incze. May have been an exposure I missed. In any event, 4-0 lead of Incze at the break. Shot from Miracle in the second period but Incze defends. Another shot by Miracle and Incze defends again. This time Miracle scores though, with a cradle for two. Incze scrambles out of the hold and tips Miracle back with a leg and its 6-2. Costly exchange for Miracle as she’s still down by four with less than a minute to go. Step out for Miracle to make it 6-3. 30 seconds. Shot by Miracle in short time, she’ll need four or a turn. And Miracle can’t get through Incze’s defenses. She loses in the round of 16, 6-3 final score.

In 53kg news, Antim won her round of 16 bout, so Parrish is still alive to get pulled into repechage. 

Quarterfinals

Antim wins her 53kg bout. She has to win one more vs a neutral athlete from either Russia or Belarus to pull Parrish back into the repechage. 

72kg - Amit Elor, USA vs Miwa Morikawa, JPN - Elor's opponent has bumped up from 65kg where she won gold at last year's world championship. Elor controls center for the first minute, then drives Morikawa out of bounds but its ruled grounded. Could have easily called a step out there but what are you going to do. Morikawa on the activity clock now. Point for Elor, who then drives Morikawa out of bounds for a second time but again Morikawa grounds herself and gets away with a neutral restart and no points. Second period now. Morikawa on the clock for a second time, which is more than justified. Elor continues to take ground from Morikawa. Elor fights through an underhook and gets the first takedown, plus the activity clock point makes it 4-0. 80 seconds remain. Morikawa trying to pick up the pace but Elor has an answer for everything. Go behind in short time for Elor and that's all she wrote! 6-0 win and Amit Elor is on to the semifinals!

68kg - Emma Bruntil, USA vs Vusala Pafianovich, AIN - Bruntil has either Belarus or Russia next. And a quick online lookup confirms it's Russia. A tactical start to the bout, first point goes on the board for Bruntil via the activity clock. No other scores in the period. In the second, more handfighting, and Parfianovich goes on the clock a second time. Bruntil has been clearly controlling ties and moving Parfianovich around the mat so no controversy there. Bruntil gets a second point with 80 seconds left in the match. No Bruuntil goes on the clock with a little over a minute to go. Point for Parfianovich. 30 seconds on the board. 2-1 still for Brunti. And Emma's defense holds, and USA gets another semifinalist! Bruntil survives and advances!

Unfortunately, things don't break our way at 65kg, as Grace Bullen of Norway defeats Kriszta Incze of Romania 10-0 and Kayla Miracle is eliminated from medal contention. 

Semifinals

72kg - Amit Elor, USA vs Kendra Dacher, FRA - Elor goes right to work with a step out to take an early lead. Two-on-one for Elor who snaps Dacher down and covers for a takedown and a 3-0 lead. Another step out makes it 4-0 for Elor and she's well on her way to a second consecutive world championship finals. Another step out plus caution and one makes it 6-0 at the break. Underhook helps Elor shove Dacher out of bounds for one more. Elor snaps Dacher down but Dacher holds on to an arm and spins Elor over for a counter exposure. Just barely but Elor broke 90 degrees. One more makes it 8-2, then a snap down go behind and two turns on a trap arm gut and Amit Elor wins by tech-fall, 12-2! Amit Elor will wrestle for her second gold medal tomorrow!

Elor's opponent will be Enk Amar from Mongolia, who took out Kazakhstan's Bakberganova in the semis 6-2.

53kg - Japan's Fujinami single leg to double to a turn to a leglace to a 10-0 take fall over Greece in 43 seconds. 

India's Antim is in a closer match with Kalazinskaya of either Russia or Belarus. We need Antim to win and pull Parrish into the repechage. Kaladzinskaya scores first with an activity clock point but that's all the points in the first period. A minute into the second period Kaladzinskaya stops an Antim shot and gets a go behind for a 3-0 lead. With 42 seconds on the clock Antim scores her first points with a takedown. 3-2 with 20 seconds to go. Antim with an ankle pick and she runs Kaladzinskaya down for for two more, breaking down a quad pod defense with just five seconds to go. Kaladskaya picks a leg from underneath and par terre and tries to get an exposure in the final seconds. It is not awarded but Kaladzinskaya challenges. Oh no, the jury says Kaladzinskya got it. Despair for India and frustration for Team USA as Dom Parrish is eliminated. Last year's champ is 0-1 in Belgrade. 

62kg - Kayla Mircale is unfortunately already eliminated from medal contention, as she lost to Romania who then lost to Grace Bullen of Norway in the quarters. Bullen is trailing Motoki of Japan in her semifinal bout 2-1, while Tynybekova is up 3-0 over Niemesch of Germany. Motoki and Tynybekova both hold on to win. Tynybekova will try for her third world gold tomorrow while Motoki will try to improve on her bronze from 2022 Worlds. 

68kg - Emma Bruntil, USA vs Enkhjin Tuvshinjargal, MGL - Bruntil with a chance to make the finals and earn a guaranteed medal in her first senior world championship. Level change and blast double from Tuvshinjargal drives Bruntil to the mat and gives two to Mongolia. Bruntil did well to belly out and not give up the feet to back. Bruntil shoots in but as she's coming up to her feet Tuvshinjargal pancakes Bruntil to her back and squeezes a head and arm. It's 6-0 and Bruntil has to fight off her back. Over a minute left in the period. Heroic fight from Bruntil but Mongolia secures the fall with just 15 seconds left in the period. Bruntil will wrestle for bronze tomorrow. 

In the other semifinal bout, Cavusoglu of Turkey teched Ishii of Japan 11-1. Cavusoglu is just the third wrestler to beat a Japanese woman in Belgrade this year and the first non-American, as Jen Page and Amit Elor defeated their Japanese opponents earlier in the tournament. 

Medal Matches

65kg - Bronze Medal Matches - In our first medal match of the day, Hristova of Bulgaria cradles up neutral athlete Paulava and collects a bronze medal via pinfall. In the second bronze match, Aksoy of Turkey has Lili of China. Lili gets the only two point move of the match with an exposure in the first period and takes the bout 3-2. China and Bulgaria win bronze medals!

65kg - Gold Medal Match - Macey Kilty, USA vs Nonoka Ozaki, JPN - Kilty gets last year's 62kg world champ, Ozaki, in the finals. Double leg from Ozaki scores the first points, and Ozaki is a menace in par terre. She scores with a variety of turns and techs Kilty in one minute. Tough bout for Kilty but she still earned a silver medal in her first ever senior world team. We've not seen the last of her on this stage. 

50kg - Bronze Medal Matches - Sarah Hildebrandt, USA vs Evin Demirhan, TUR - In the first bronze medal match, Feng of China took down Cardozo of Colombia and cyclone laced her into oblivion, earning the tech fall in under a minute. In the other match, Sarah Hildebrandt will attempt to earn her fifth world or Olympic medal of her career against Turkey. 

Heavy hands from Sarah, she's snapping Demirhan down and controlling ties but no score after one minute and a couple of flurries. Demirhan with a vice grip on Hildebrandt trailing arm that's keeping her from getting a go behind. Finally she scoots around after almost two minutes and a 2-0 lead. An activity clock point gives Hildebrandt a 3-0 lead and that's how the period ends. 

In the second period it's more heavy hands from Sarah but Demirhan keeps the deficit at 3 after 90 more seconds of wrestling. With one minute on the clock Hildebrandt emerges from a scramble with her second takedown and a 5-0 lead. Demirhan's offense has been struggling so this lead looks very strong for Sarah. A few more flurries but no more scores and Hildebrandt gets the shut out victory for bronze! 

And the weight is qualified for Paris!

50kg - Gold Medal Match - Susaki, just 24 years old and already a three-time World and one-time Olympic gold medalist. She gets the first takedown on Dolgorjav in a rematch of last year's 50kg world championship gold medal bout. Three turns from Susaki's deadly leg lace and she leads 8-0. Dolgorjav needs a quick spritz of the magical elixer known as cold spray and she ready to go. Susaki cares not for cold spray and takes Dolgorjav down soon after the restart whistle and Susaki is now a four-time world champ. Susaki's legendary run continues! 

57kg Bronze Medal Matches - Helen Maroulis, USA vs Anhelina Lysak, POL - But first, Odunayo Adekouroye of Nigeria wrestles Elvira Kamaloglu of Turkey for a bronze. A 1-1, activity clock only bout is blown wide open in the final minute, as Adekouroye gets a takedown and three turns before going out of bounds to make it 9-1. Kamaloglu doesn't quit, gets four points and two cautions on Adekouroye but that's all, 9-5 win for Adekouroye. 

Helen now wrestles for her ninth world or Olympic medal. A slow start for both wrestlers but right before one of them was going to get put on the activity clock Helen hits a single leg and finishes for two. That's how the period ends. In the second its upper body ties, but it goes poorly for Lysak as Maroulis chucks her to her back for two. Lysak fights off her back but Helen gets a leg lace for two more. More upper body ties on the restart, Helen fights through an exchange and has a double but Lysak counters with a key lock that throws Helen over for two points. Helen recovers and comes out on top for a one point reversal. 7-2 is the score. Then a slide by from Lysak that turns into an arm throw gives Lysak a four as Helen continues over and exposures once she hits the mat. That makes the score 7-6 with less than a minute to go. Another throw by Lysak but Helen is ready and stops the throw, covering for two and a 9-6 lead. Lysak challenges and loses so it's 10-6 with 4 seconds left in the match. Maroulis defends and is now a NINE-TIME world and Olympic medalist!

Helen also qualifies the weight for Paris!

57kg Gold Medal Match - Sukurai of Japan will try to go three world golds in three years against Nichita of Moldova. Nichita was last year's world gold medalist at 59kg. Sakurai leas by one activity clock point at the break. A takedown by Sakurai gives her a 3-0 lead with a minute to go. Nichita scrambles her way to a takedown to make it 3-2 but only 20 seconds left in the match. Sakurai keeps Nichita at bay and Japan has another gold medalist. 

76kg Bronze Medal Matches - Adeline Gray, USA vs Milaimys Marin, CUB - But first, Renteria of Colombia will wrestle Axente of Romania for a bronze medal and Olympic qualifying spot. Renteria amasses a 4-0 lead in the first period and adds another takedown to make it 6-0 in the second. Axente makes it 6-1. Axente trying for the home run but Renteria doesn't let her and final is 8-1. Colombia qualifies for the Olympics. 

Now it's Gray's turn to attempt to qualify the spot for another Pan-Am county, the USA. Adeline scores first with a single leg and two turns and she races out to a 6-0 lead in the first. Marin answer with a double leg to make it 6-2 but can't get any turns. And that's how the period ends. Marin shoots in the second period but Gray sprawls and gets a go-behind for two, then locks up up with a modified cradle and rocks Marin back for two more points. It's 10-2 but Marin isn't done. She times a blast double and sends Gray to the mat to make it 10-4, then hits a bow and arrow and collects to more. Marin holds Gray in danger but it's not getting her any more points and time is ticking away. Gray bellies out but they stay in par terre for the final seconds and you can put it in the books! Adeline Gray returns to competition after giving birth to twins and earns a world bronze medal, her tenth world or Olympic medal! Incredible!

Team USA has now qualified for three Olympic women's freestyle weights!

76kg - Gold Medal Match - Kagami of Japan, who beat Adeline, leads by one over Medet Kyzy of Kyrgyzstan, by a single point at the break from the activity clock. Kagami gets a takedown in the second, then a turn, then Medet Kyzy needs injury time a quick squirt of cold spray on one of her shins. They restart in par terre and Kagami gets another turn to make it 6-0. Medet Kyzy grimacing in pain but will try and finish the match, Kagami drags her down to the mat and covers for two more and that's it for Medet Kyzy. Clearly distraught, Medit Kyzy injury defaults and Kagami is a world gold medalist. 

Japan now has five golds plus two more wrestlers in the finals and one in the bronze medal match. Pretty good! They will win first place while Team USA will likely be second. 

Tomorrow we wrap up the women's tournament and Greco gets started. Apologies for the typos, thanks for reading!