Wise and learned wrestling fans and/or readers of last week’s newsletter are aware that the U17 World Championships are one of the best ways to get a glimpse of the future stars of American wrestling.
Perspicacious viewers of the 2026 U17 World Championships, which recently concluded in Baku, Azerbaijan, got just such a glimpse—especially from the girls’ freestyle squad, which won a team title with a historically excellent performance.
U17 Women’s Champs For The First Time EVER*
We asterisked the title because Team USA’s U17 women’s team also won in 2021. However, several teams did not participate in 2021 due to COVID, including Japan, which has been the big bully in women’s wrestling, winning 28 of 35 senior team titles since women’s wrestling was added to the World Championship program back in 1987.
And not to take anything away from the 2021 team, which put forth an incredible performance, but the 2026 team won more total medals (eight to seven) and more gold medals (four to three), with Japan and other countries in the field.
So just how tremendous was this year’s Team USA U17 women’s freestyle team? Let us tell you.
Taina Fernandez Is A Star Among Stars, Makes History
For the first time in history, an American won three U17 women’s freestyle gold medals. That woman is Taina Fernandez, who claimed her third yellow medal in the most dominant of fashions. The Maryland native won 61kg gold in 2024 and 2025, then went up to 69kg in 2026 and promptly obliterated the field.
Fernandez spent a grand total of four minutes and 45 seconds on the mat, smashing all four opponents in her path in devastating pinfalls. Indeed, the future of American women’s wrestling is already here.
But It Wasn’t Just The Taina Show In Baku
Other Americans shone brightly on the shores of the Caspian Sea last week.
Epenesa Elison won her second U17 world medal, improving on her silver from 2025 with a 2026 gold at 57kg. Kaili Manuel won gold at 73kg after coming home empty-handed in 2025. Madison Healey repeated as a bronze medalist, adding a 46kg medal this year to her 43kg medal from 2025.
Marlee Solomon won gold at 53kg on her first U17 World Team. Sophia Valdez, Landri Von Gonten and Isla Silva all medaled on their first trips to U17 Worlds as well.
America’s distaff wrestlers outpaced the rest of the world by an astounding 34-point margin. The 2026 team will be the measuring stick by which future U17 teams are judged.
Team USA’s Greco-Roman Wrestlers Had A Standout Performance
World Championship medals in Greco-Roman wrestling at any level are a rare accomplishment for Team USA, which makes the two medals the Americans earned in Baku last week all the more impressive. Team USA’s sixth-place finish was also its highest in recent memory, with eighth place being the U17 Greco squad’s best finish since 2021.
Rylen Wax earned just the fifth U17 gold medal in Greco since 2011. The Ohio native won the title at 45kg. Bruno Pallone also earned a silver medal at 110kg, giving Team USA bookend podium finishers at the lightest and heaviest weight classes.
America’s Men’s Freestyle Team Has Had Better Tournaments
Usually the most successful of the three styles for Team USA, our men’s freestyle squad did not have its best performance in Baku. The Americans finished seventh, their worst finish as a team since 2013.
The highlights were silver medals from Rylen Wax and Saleh Tsarni, with Wax’s second medal of the tournament coming just days after he won gold in Greco. It was also the first time since the U17 World Championships returned as an annual event in 2011 that Team USA did not earn a gold medal in men’s freestyle.
However, it’s important to maintain the proper perspective regarding this tournament. Everyone who makes a world team is still a rising star and still very much developing their skills. The accolades these teenagers earn are an added bonus to the foundation they’re building for themselves and their peers. They are still sharpening their irons, as the expression goes. After all, laurels are nice to wear, but they make for lousy cornerstones.
What’s Next? U20s, Naturally
The World Championship schedule progresses chronologically in more ways than one. After U17s come U20s, then U23s, and then the seniors cap off the season.
U20s is another developmental tournament, with more future stars, more elite wrestling and more grist for the wise and learned wrestling fan’s mill.
And best of all? You can watch every match from all those tournaments live on FloWrestling!
Rewatch Of The Week
What better way to stay pumped up about the U17 World Championships than with a supercut of every Team USA U17 women’s freestyle medal match from 2026!
Rankings Of The Week
Speaking of future stars, check out our recently updated Class of 2026 High School Big Board, featuring the most sought-after men’s Division I college wrestling recruits in the nation. Check it out here.