Pan American Championship: Kayla Miracle Clinches Well-Deserved Gold in a Nail-Biting Final

American women’s freestyle wrestling star Kayla Miracle has won the gold medal at the 2024 Pan American Championship. The US grappler has emerged victorious before the Acapulco, Mexico crowd in the 62kg category. Interestingly, the world championship silver medalist survived a cut-throat match to get a decision victory against a seasoned rival.

USA Wrestling tweeted the result of the match and declared the news of Miracle’s miraculous victory on X. The tweet carried the caption, “WFS 62 kg – Gold Medal Match – Kayla Miracle 🇺🇸 dec. Ana Godinez Gonzalez 🇨🇦, 6-6 #WrestleAcapulco. Miracle wins 🥇 in Acapulco!”

Notably, Ana Godinez Gonzalez was competing for her third consecutive Pan American Championship gold after 2022 and 2023. She had forced Miracle to go home with a silver in 2022. But now, the American wrestler has emerged on top once again. Moreover, Miracle was the 2021 gold medalist defending her Pan Am title against the Canadian wrestler in 2022.

Kayla Miracle made her way to the Pan American Championship after a national wrestle-off in the 62kg weight class. Interestingly, she was also awarded the USA Wrestling Athlete of the Week for her bout by US Air Force Special Warfare. After all, she had defeated another world silver medalist Macey Kilty to advance her way to Mexico.

The resultant win against Kilty punched Miracle’s way to the Pan American Championship as well as the Pan Am Olympic qualifiers. Miracle will look forward to doubling down on her preparation, especially since she nicked a marginal decision win against Gonzalez. Interestingly, another US wrestling champ earned the gold in Mexico. In fact, the Olympic champ managed to do so while training another World Champion for Paris.

Second Pan American Championship gold for Helen Maroulis

2016 Rio Olympics gold medalist Helen Maroulis clinched the top gold in Mexico against Guillia Oliveira. Maroulis secured a 4-1 decision win to land her second Pan American Championship gold after 12 years since 2012. Notably, the 57kg wrestler managed to overcome her competition despite having her hands full with Stevan Micic.

ALSO READ – Pan American Championships: USA Star Helen Maroulis Brings Gold Home After 12-Year drought

Before entering the Pan American Championship, the 3x World Champ was training the Serbian wrestler for Paris. However, she must have also benefited from sparring with a reigning world champion in the same weight class. The US will look forward to securing more gold medals on the final days of the competition.

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