Mallory Velte competes in her semifinal match at World Wrestling Championships on Oct. 24, 2018 in Budapest, Hungary.
Mallory Velte made personal and national history Thursday at the 2018 Senior Wrestling World Championships in winning the bronze medal at 62 kilograms.
The medal was the first for Velte at a world championships. It was also the fourth for U.S. women and 11th medal overall for Team USA at worlds, the most ever in a single year. The freestyle competition came to a close from Budapest with the 62 kg. women’s class.
Velte’s run to the semifinals included a 14-6 win over two-time Olympic medalist Jackie Renteria of Colombia. Velte lost to four-time world championship medalist Taybe Yussein by 2-0 pinfall in the semifinals that dropped her into the bronze-medal match. There she faced Brazil’s Lais Nunes, who wrestled in 63 kg. at the Olympic Games Rio 2016.
Velte took an early 1-0 lead after Nunes failed to score on the shot clock. But Nunes tied it right away off a stepout. The score was tied 1-1 at the break. Velte went ahead again via the shot clock, and held on for the 2-1 win.
Velte, 23, from Sacramento, California, was making her second appearance for the world team. She was a two-time Women’s Collegiate Wrestling Association champion with Simon Fraser University.
Todd Kortemeier is a sportswriter, editor and children’s book author from Minneapolis. He is a contributor to TeamUSA.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.
