Bristol’s Ava Guilmette wins at Tallinn Open in Estonia

Bristol’s Ava Guilmette, a sixth-grade student at Wyoming Seminary in Kingston, Pennsylvania, was recently recognized as the USA Wrestling Athletes of the week.

Guilmette, a 13-year-old, won the 54 kilogram or 119 pounds weight class at the Tallinn Open in Tallinn, Estonia, on March 26. The tournament is the largest youth wrestling tournament in Europe.

She was one of three Connecticut wrestlers to win medals in the tournament. Southington’s Chase Kastner and Plainville’s Jaxsen Bailey also won medals.

Guilmette won six straight matches, three by pin and three by technical fall to win a gold medal. She outscored her opponents, 51-0 in six matches. She beat Miranda Kapanadze of Georgia, 10-0, in the championship match.

In addition, Guilmette earned a 10-0 win by technical fall over Estonia’s Darja Jeremejeva in a U-15 match at 54 kg in Wyoming Seminary’s victory over Team Europe in an All-Star dual meet.

Guilmette won a national title at 12U at the USA Wrestling women’s nationals in 2022 and 2021 along with a 9U national title in 2019.

Bailey won a bronze medal at the Tallinn Open at 38 kilograms (83 pounds) in the U-13 division in Greco-Roman and was 10^th in the freestyle tournament at 42 kg or 92 pounds.

Kastner competed in the U-15 division at 44kg (97 pounds) and was eighth in the freestyle division.