Clarissa Chun turns Ukraine’s Oleksandra Kogut en route to winning a battle of World champions on Wednesday. Larry Slater photo.

ISTANBUL, Turkey – The medal drought continues for the U.S. wrestling team at the World Championships.

Americans Clarissa Chun, Whitney Conder and Andy Bisek each came up short of winning medals on Wednesday at the Sinan Erdem Dome. Chun placed seventh at 48 kg/105.5 lbs.

The U.S. is still looking for its first medal after Day 3 of 7 at the World Championships.

Chun came up one win short of wrestling in the bronze-medal match after falling to Jyldyz Eshimova-Turtbayeva of Kazakhstan in the repechage. Chun repeatedly tried to score as she was the clear aggressor, but all three periods went to ball draws since neither wrestler scored in any of the two-minute periods.

The defensive-minded Kazakhstan wrestler, who Chun beat in the 2008 World finals in Tokyo, Japan, won ball draws in the first and third periods before finishing in the leg clinch to win the match 1-0, 0-1, 1-0. Chun went 3-2 on the day.

"I started off good, and I felt good all day until the last two matches," Chun said. "I definitely feel like I should have won a medal today. I felt ready."

A win in that match against Kazakhstan would have qualified the U.S. for the 2012 Olympics in that weight class. The top six finishers from the Worlds in each of the 18 Olympic weight classes quality their country for London.

Chun (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) had wrestled well earlier in the day in a loaded bottom side of the women's freestyle bracket at 48 kilos.

Chun, a 2008 World champion, won her first three matches before falling to 2009 World champion Mariya Stadnyk of Azerbaijan in the quarterfinals 3-1, 2-0.

Chun avenged a loss from the 2009 Worlds when she beat North Korea’s Sim Hyang So 1-0, 4-3 in the second round. She followed with a dominating 5-1, 1-0 win over World champion Oleksandra Kogut of Ukraine. Kogut won Worlds at 51 kg/112.25 lbs. last year.

"She's just not letting herself open up," U.S. National Coach Terry Steiner said of Chun. "She has so much abilty - there is so much technique and so much talent there. She needs to get her offense going and attack more. It's frustrating for Clarissa and frustrating for the rest of our staff. We have too much offense to be standing there in a 0-0 match."

Conder won her first match before falling to North Korea’s Kum Ok Han 6-0, 1-0 in the second round at 51 kg/112.25 lbs.

Conder (Colorado Springs, Colo./Gator WC) was eliminated when Han lost her next match in the quarterfinals. Conder, a past Junior World champion, was competing in her first Senior World Championships.

Japan’s Hitomi Sakamoto won her eighth World title by rallying for a three-period win over Stadnyk in the finals at 48 kilos. Russia's Zamira Rakhmanova won the title at 51 kilos.

Bisek (Colorado Springs, Colo./Minnesota Storm) won his first Greco-Roman match before falling to Askhat Dilmukhamedov of Kazakhstan. The Kazakhstan wrestler lost in the semifinals, falling one win short of pulling Bisek back in the repechage at 74 kg/163 lbs. Dilmukhamedov finished fifth on Wednesday.

Bisek was a late replacement on the World Team for Jake Fisher, who suffered a foot injury during training camp and was unable to compete. Fisher competed in the 2010 Worlds.

The U.S. fell short of winning a World medal in Greco-Roman wrestling for the second straight year. Justin Lester had the highest finish by an American after placing fifth on Monday at 66 kg/145.5 lbs. He was the lone U.S. Greco wrestler to qualify his weight for the Olympics.

"For the most part, the guys wrestled hard," U.S. National Coach Steve Fraser said. "It's tough out there and it's not getting any easier. We have to get better over the next 10 months and that's what we are going to do."

Russia's Roman Vlasov beat Turkey's Selcuk Cebi in the Greco-Roman finals at 74 kilos. Russia won the team title with 41 points, Turkey was second with 35 and Iran third with 30. The U.S. tied for 19th with six points.

U.S. women’s freestyle wrestlers Helen Maroulis (Rockville, Md./New York AC), Kelsey Campbell (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) and Elena Pirozhkova (Colorado Springs, Colo./Gator WC) are scheduled to compete on Thursday.

Maroulis wrestles at 55 kg/121 lbs., Campbell at 59 kg/130 lbs. and Pirozhkova at 63 kg/138.75 lbs. 

Maroulis placed eighth at the 2008 World Championships at 51 kg/112.25 lbs. Campbell was fifth in the 2010 Worlds and Pirozhkova won a World silver medal last year.

Wrestling is scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m. local time on Thursday.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
at Istanbul, Turkey, Sept. 14

Greco-Roman results

74 kg/163 lbs.
1 Roman Vlasov (Russia)
2 Selcuk Cebi (Turkey)
3 Neven Zugaj (Croatia) 
3 Arsen Jufalakyan (Armenia)
5 Robert Rosengren (Sweden)
5 Askhat Dilmukhamedov (Kazakhstan)
7 Jure Kuhar (Slovenia)
8 Péter Bacsi (Hungary)
9 Farshad Alizadeh Kalehkeshi (Iran)
10 Ionel Puscasu (Romania)

Greco-Roman Team standings
1 Russia, 41
2 Turkey, 35
3 Iran, 30
4 Belarus, 25
5 Kazakhstan, 23
6 Bulgaria, 21
6 Azerbaijan, 21
8 Korea, 20
9 Armenia, 19
9 Hungary, 19
11 Cuba, 17
12 Poland, 15
12 Switzerland, 15
14 Croatia, 14
15 Georgia, 9
15 China, 9
15 Germany, 9
18 Finland, 8
19 Egypt, 6
19 North Korea, 6
19 United States, 6
19 Venezuela, 6
23 Japan, 5
24 Greece, 4
24 Slovenia, 4
26 Italy, 3
26 Kyrgyzstan, 3
26 Romania, 3
29 Mexico, 1
29 Slovakia, 1
29 Ukraine, 1

U.S. Greco-Roman results

74 kg/163 lbs. – Andy Bisek, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Sunkist Kids) - 20th
WIN Alexsandr Kazakevic (Lithuania), 1-0, 0-1, 3-1
LOSS Askhat Dilmukhamedov (Kazakhstan), 0-1, 0-1

Women’s freestyle results

48 kg/105.5 lbs.
1 Hitomi Obara Sakamoto (Japan)
2 Mariya Stadnyk (Azerbaijan)
3 Shasha Zhao (China)
3 Zhuldyz Eshimova (Kazakhstan)
5 Carol Huynh (Canada)
5 Carolina Castillo Hidalgo (Colombia)
7 Clarissa Chun (USA)
8 Tatyana Samkova (Russia)
9 Mayelis Caripa Castillo (Venezuela)
10 Isabelle Sambou (Senegal)

51 kg/112.25 lbs.
1 Zamira Rakhmanova (Russia) 
2 Otgontsetseg Davaasukh (Mongolia)
3 Patimat Bagomedova (Azerbaijan)
3 Jessica MacDonald Bondy (Canada)
5 Rathi Neha (India)
5 Mareka Shidochi (Japan)
7 Kum Ok Han (North Korea)
8 Yanan Sun (China)
9 Alexandra Engelhardt (Germany)
10 Maryia Ivanova Yahorava (Belarus)

U.S. women's results

48 kg/105.5 lbs. – Clarissa Chun, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Sunkist Kids) - 7th
WIN Iwona Matkowska (Poland), 3-1, 4-0
WIN Sim Hyang So (North Korea), 1-0, 4-3
WIN Oleksandra Kogut (Ukraine), 5-1, 1-0
LOSS Mariya Stadnyk (Azerbaijan), 1-3, 0-2
LOSS Jyldyz Eshimova-Turtbayeva (Kazakhstan), 0-1, 1-0, 0-1

51 kg/112.25 lbs. – Whitney Conder, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Gator WC) - dnp/13th
WIN Estera Dobre (Romania), 3-0, 1-0
LOSS Kum Ok Han (North Korea), 0-6, 0-1