Milford’s Kayla Batres finishes fifth at U20 world championships
Milford’s Kayla Batres, right, shown last fall in the Who is No. 1 match, finished fifth at the U20 world championships on Wednesday, representing Guatemala. (Photo courtesy Sam Janicki)
Milford’s Kayla Batres finished tied for fifth at the U20 world championships in women’s freestyle at 50 kilograms (110 pounds) on Wednesday in Bratislava, Slovakia.
Batres, who is representing Guatemala, went 2-2 in the tournament, advancing to the semifinal before falling to eventual U20 world champion Yuu Jatsume of Japan, 11-0 by technical fall in 1:26.
Batres, who will be a senior at Greens Farms Academy in Westport this fall, won her first two matches by technical superiority over wrestlers from Kazakhstan and Turkey.
There were 25 entries in the tournament and it was a single-elimination event unless the wrestler that beat you advance to the semifinals.
Batres beat Medina Ukuanyshebek of Kazakhstan in her first round match by technical superiority, 10-0 in 2:37. Batres won her quarterfinal bout with a 12-1 win in 5:11 over Turkey’s Songul Kuavak.
In the semifinal, Batres faced Katsume, a 2014 U17 world champion. Katume used an impressive and tight guy wrench to turn Batres over four times to win by technical superiority, 11-0.
Katsume beat U20 European champion Margarita Iarygina of Russia in the championship match, 10-0.
Batres finished tied for fifth after an 11-0 loss to two-time U17 world champion Morgan Turner of the United States in the bronze medal match.
Turner rebounded from her quarterfinal loss to Katsume of Japan with two shutout technical falls to capture a bronze medal. She put on a five-takedown clinic to blank Josephine Wrensch of Germany, before posting an 11-0 win over Batres, the 2026 U20 Pan American silver medalist.
There are two bronze medal matches which is why Batres finished tied for fifth.
The medal effort in Bratislava gives Turner her first U20 World medal to go along with three from the U17 level.
She won U17 World titles in 2023 and 2025, plus a U17 World bronze in 2024. The work isn’t done. Turner will represent Team USA at both the U23 and Senior World Championships in October in Las Vegas.
Turner had modest goals for her bronze medal match with Batres. “Just wrestle hard for six minutes,” she told USA Wrestling. “And don’t let anybody like dictate my pace. If I don’t want to shoot, I don’t have to. If I want to shoot, then I will. And just like run through them and don’t care about the outcome at this point. It was a good match just to finish it and get the third place.”
U20 world championships
At Bratislava, Slovakia
Women’s freestyle 50 kg
Gold: Yuu Katsume (Japan) tech. fall Margarita Iarygina (Russia), 10-0
Bronze: Morgan Turner (United States) tech. fall Kayla Batres (Guatemala), 11-0
Bronze: Nilufar Nurmukhammadova (Uzbekistan) tech. fall Diana Voiculescu (Romania), 13-0
Other key matches
Semifinal: Yuu Katsume (JPN) df. Kayla Batres (GUA) by VSU, 11-0
Semifinal: Margarita Iarygina (RUS) df. Nilufar Nurmukhammadova (UZB), 9-4
Quarterfinal: Kayla Batres (GUA) df. Songul Kavak (TUR) by VSU1, 12-1
Quarterfinal: Katsume (JPN) df. Morgan Turner (USA) by VSU, 11-0
Second round: Morgan Turner (USA) df. Parveen Parveen (IND) by VFA, 2-4
Second round: Kayla Batres (GUA) df. Medina Kuanyshbek (KAZ) by VSU, 10-0
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