Women's 50kg freestyle

Two U.S. women had never won gold medals at a single Olympics in history — until today. 

On Wednesday night, Team USA's freestyle wrestler Sarah Hildebrandt upgraded from Japanese bronze to French gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics. It's the fourth-ever women's freestyle wrestling gold medal for the United States — and comes just one night after compatriot Amit Elor earned gold in the 68kg event.

Japan hadn't earned a Greco-Roman gold in 40 years until Kenichiro Fumita won the 60kg event Tuesday night. 

With Nao Kusaka's 77kg final-round win Wednesday evening, the country has added two golds in two nights.  

In their final, top-seeded Kusaka defeated Kazakhstan's Demeu Zhadrayev, the No. 6 seed, 5-1.

It only took about a minute for Zhadrayev to gain the lead, 2-0, thanks in part to a passivity call. 

The real drama unfolded with just three minutes remaining: Kusaka managed a four-point takedown, earned a passivity point off the Kazakhstani, then ran out the clock for the win.

MATCH STATS

Iran's Mohammad Saravi managed to take down "The White Bear" with a final-round win over Armenia's Artur Aleksanyan — even if he couldn't completely manage a post-match backflip. 

If Saravi's win felt like an upset, perhaps it's because Aleksanyan has placed on each podium position over the last three Olympics: bronze at the 2012 London Olympics, gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics, silver at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

But in Paris, it's a second silver for the 32-year-old Armenian — and an upgrade for the 26-year-old Saravi, who took home bronze in Tokyo.

MATCH STATS

Women's 50kg freestyle

GOLD: Sarah Hildebrandt (USA)
SILVER: Yusneylis Guzman (CUB)
BRONZE: Yui Susaki (JPN)
BRONZE: Feng Ziqi (CHN)

Greco-Roman 77kg

GOLD: Nao Kusaka (JPN)
SILVER: Demeu Zhadrayev (KAZ)
BRONZE: Malkhas Amoyan (ARM)
BRONZE: Akzhol Makhmudov(KGZ)

Greco-Roman 97kg

GOLD: Mohammadhadi Saravi (IRI)
SILVER: Artur Aleksanyan (ARM)
BRONZE: Gabriel Rosillo (CUB)
BRONZE: Uzur Dzhuzupbekov (KGZ)

Women's freestyle 53kg

At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Mayu Sadochi claimed wrestling gold for the host country. Sadochi isn't competing in Paris — but her 20-year-old compatriot, Akari Fujinama, has a strong opportunity to earn Japan a second consecutive 53kg gold. 

Fujinama lived up to her reputation on Wednesday, disposing her three opponents with ease. She'll face Ecuador's Lucia Yepez Guzman in the final tomorrow evening.

Greco-Roman 67kg 

Ukraine's Parviz Nasibov squeaked by in his first three matches, winning by just a point in his Round of 16 and quarterfinal matches — then beat Azerbaijan's Hasrat Jafarov, despite a tied score of 3-3. The Ukranian will meet Iran's Saeid Esmaeili in the final, who dominated his prelim opponents. 

Greco-Roman 87kg 

Another Iranian — 22-year-old Alireza Mohmadi, a silver medalist at last year's World Wrestling Championships — dominated his way through the bracket. He will meet Bulgaria's Semen Novikov in the final.