BAKU, Azerbaijan - A teary-eyed Kristie Marano came off the mat, walked down the steps of the elevated platform and quickly found USA Wrestling National Women's Freestyle Coach Terry Steiner.

They hugged.

And then they smiled.

Just moments before, Marano had launched Olympic silver medalist Guzel Manurova of Russia with a textbook pancake maneuver for a first-period pin to reach the finals of the World Championships on Sunday at the Heydar Aliyev Sport and Exhibition Complex.

The 28-year-old Marano tied a U.S. record for all three styles by winning her ninth World medal. She will shoot for her third World title Sunday night when she faces 2006 World champion Stanka Zlateva of Bulgaria in the finals at 72 kg/158.5 lbs. This is Marano's seventh trip to the World finals. Zlateva beat Marano a month ago in the finals of a tournament in Poland.

"Kristie always performs her best when the lights are on," Steiner said. "She comes out there ready to fight and ready to battle. She finds a way to make things happen."

Marano (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) ties heavyweight freestyle legend Bruce Baumgartner with the most World medals won by a U.S. wrestler with nine.

"Nine medals - that just speaks for itself," Steiner said. "To be in this fire nine times and win nine medals is pretty amazing. The level of wrestling is improving, no doubt about it, and for her to continue to succeed at this level is very impressive."

This is Marano's seventh trip to the finals of the World Championships. She's won a medal in all nine trips to the Worlds.

The U.S. now has qualified for the 2008 Olympics in two of the four Olympic weight classes. The top eight finishers in each of the four Olympic classes for women earn a berth to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. Marano and Stephanie Murata, who placed fifth at 48 kg/105.5 lbs. on Friday, have now qualified their weight classes for the Olympics.

In the decisive sequence in the semifinals, Manurova shot in on a double-leg attempt and Marano blocked her into a front headlock. The Russian athlete started to come around the corner, but Marano reacted by recovering into an underhook to pancake Manurova to her back. Marano had the pinning combination locked up tight and about 10 seconds later the official slapped the mat for the fall.

Marano survived a scare in the quarterfinals when she won the first period over Spain's Miader Unda. But Unda came back to win the second period 6-1 as she caught Marano on her back. In the third period, Marano scored three points on a hip toss off Unda's leg attack and earned the fall at 1:13.

"She just finds a way to make things happen," Steiner said. "She tends to not be a practice room wrestler so much, but when the lights are on she lets her reactions take over."

Americans Katie Downing (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) and Sara McMann (Gaffney, S.C./Sunkist Kids) both lost to World champions in the first session, but will have a chance to wrestle back and win a bronze medal Sunday afternoon.

Downing, a past World bronze medalist at 67 kg/147.5 lbs., dropped a 2-0, 2-0 decision in the semifinals to 2006 World champion Ruixue Jing of China. Downing now needs one win for her second career World bronze medal.

McMann, a past Olympic and World silver medalist at 63 kg/138.75 lbs., drew 2006 World champion Kaori Icho of Japan in the first round and fell 2-1, 1-0. McMann was the aggressor the entire match, trying to set up shots and attacked the wrestler from Japan. Icho never took a shot, scoring all three takedowns when countering McMann's leg attacks. McMann shot in for a takedown late in the first period to pull within 2-1, but was unable to turn Icho.

Icho made the finals to keep McMann alive in the bracket at 63 kg/138.75 lbs. McMann now needs three wins to win a bronze medal at this Olympic weight class.

"Katie and Sara really need to come back and be ready to compete," Steiner said. "We're fighting to qualify Sara's weight for the Olympics. We need another World medal for Katie - she works too hard and does too many things right not to get it. Katie's kind of our leader and we need her to win a medal."

Icho beat McMann in the finals of the 2003 World Championships and the finals of the 2004 Olympics.

This is the final day of competition in the seven-day event.