Elena Pirozhkova battles two-time World champion Ruixue Jing of China in the bronze-medal match. Tony Rotundo photo.

ISTANBUL, Turkey – Americans Elena Pirozhkova and Helen Maroulis finished fifth at the World Championships on Thursday night at the Sinan Erdem Dome.

Pirozhkova and Maroulis fell in their bronze-medal matches in women’s freestyle wrestling.

Pirozhkova and Maroulis did qualify their weight classes for the Olympics for the U.S. by virtue of finishing in the top six at the Worlds.

Pirozhkova lost 2-0, 1-0 to two-time World champion Ruixue Jing of China in the bronze-medal match at 63 kg/138.75 lbs. Jing won World titles up a weight class at 67 kg/147.5 lbs. in 2006 and 2007. She had a noticeable height and size advantage on Pirozhkova, who was not able to generate any offense in the match.

"I felt like I wrestled better and better after the first match," Pirozhkova said. "In my bronze match, my energy level wasn't all there. I felt confident coming into the match, but I couldn't get anything going."

Pirozhkova (Colorado Springs, Colo./Gator WC) won her first four matches before running into Japanese legend Kaori Icho in the semifinals. Icho, a two-time Olympic champion, downed Pirozhkova 3-0, 3-0 en route to winning her seventh World title on Thursday.

Icho beat Pirozhkova in the World finals in 2010.

Maroulis, who turns 20 in four days, lost by fall to past World medalist Ida-Theres Nerell of Sweden in the bronze-medal match at 55 kg/121 lbs. Nerell, 28, is a past World silver and bronze medalist who won the European Championships this year. She was fifth in the 2008 Olympic Games. Maroulis made her second World Team this year and won a Junior World silver medal in 2011.

Maroulis (Rockville, Md./New York AC) won her first two matches before running into legendary Saori Yoshida of Japan in the third round. Yoshida pinned Maroulis in the first period.

“I thought I had a really good tournament,” Maroulis said. “I thought my training camp leading up to it was great. I was ready and I thought I was peaking at the right time. I had a tough match against Japan, and in the bronze-medal match I just didn’t come out ready to fight and ready to scrap.”

Yoshida edged Canada’s Tonya Verbeek in three periods to win her ninth World title on Thursday. Yoshida, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, tied Russian Greco-Roman wrestler Alexander Karelin’s record of nine World titles with her championship on Thursday.

American Kelsey Campbell (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) had the lead late in her first-round match before falling to past World silver medalist Agata Pietrzyk of Poland 0-1, 2-0, 6-1 at 59 kg/130 lbs.

Piertzyk lost her next match, eliminating Campbell. Campbell placed fifth in her first Worlds appearance in 2010.

"We're capable of more, there's no doubt," U.S. National Coach Terry Steiner said. "We've got to get some medals. This is not us. We expect medals. It's disappointing. We need to be better and get the job done."

Ukraine’s Ganna Vasylenko won the World title at 59 kg/130 lbs.

U.S. women’s wrestlers Adeline Gray (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) and Ali Bernard (New Ulm, Minn./Gator WC) are scheduled to compete Friday along with men’s freestyle wrestler Nick Simmons (Corvallis, Ore./Sunkist Kids).

Gray competes at 67 kg/147.5 lbs. and Bernard wrestles at 72 kg/158.5 lbs. Gray placed fifth in this event in 2009 and Bernard was fifth in the 2008 Olympics.

Simmons wrestles at 55 kg/121 lbs. He is competing in his first Worlds.

Wrestling on Day 5 of 7 of the World Championships is scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m. local time on Friday.

WORLD WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS
at Istanbul, Turkey, Sept. 15

55 kg/121 lbs.
1 Saori Yoshida (Japan)
2 Tonya Verbeek (Canada)
3 Tetyana Lazereva (Ukraine)
3 Ida-Theres Nerell (Sweden)
5 Mariya Gurova (Russia)
5 Helen Maroulis (USA)
7 Yuliya Ratkevich (Azerbaijan)
8 Geeta Geeta (India)
9 Katarzyna Krawczyk (Poland)
10 Alma Valencia Escoto (Mexico)

59 kg/130 lbs.
1 Ganna Vasylenko (Ukraine)
2 Sofia Mattsson (Sweden)
3 Takako Saito (Japan)
3 Sona Ahmadli (Azerbaijan)
5 Dorj Narmandakh (Mongolia)
5 Amanda Gerhart (Canada)

63 kg/138.75 lbs.
1 Kaori Icho (Japan)
2 Marianna Sastin (Hungary)
3 Nasanburmaa Ochirbat (Mongolia)
3 Ruixue Jing (China)
5 Ran Mi Kim (North Korea)
5 Elena Pirozhkova (USA)

U.S. RESULTS FROM THURSDAY’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

55 kg/121 lbs. – Helen Maroulis, Rockville, Md. (New York AC) – 5th
WIN Aiym Abdildina (Kazakhstan), 6-0, 6-2
WIN Valya Trandeva (Bulgaria), 1-2, fall 0:33
LOSS Saori Yoshida (Japan), fall 1:09
WIN Emriye Musta (Turkey), 5-2, 6-2
WIN Alma Valencia Acosto (Mexico), 5-0, 4-0
LOSS Ida-Theres Nerell (Sweden), fall 1:26

59 kg/130 lbs. – Kelsey Campbell, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Sunkist Kids)
LOSS Agata Pietrzyk (Poland), 0-1, 2-0, 6-1

63 kg/138.75 lbs. – Elena Pirozhkova, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Gator WC) – 5th
WIN Sandra Roa Velandia (Colombia), 7-5, 0-1, 1-0
WIN Luz Clara Vazquez (Argentina), 3-1, 2-1
WIN Hanna Johansson (Sweden), 1-0, 2-0
WIN Laura Skujina (Latvia), 1-0, 3-0
LOSS Kaori Icho (Japan), 0-3, 0-3
LOSS Ruixue Jing (China), 0-2, 0-1