Abigania fourth after first round of round-robin matches at 2025 IBF Youth World Cup
June 20, 2025
Katelyn Abigania of San Diego smiles as she awaits the start of match play at the 2025 IBF Youth World Cup, which is being held at Olympia Bowling in Helsingborg, Sweden. The 18-year-old right-hander went 5-3 on Friday to keep herself in the hunt heading into Saturday's final day of competition at this year's tournament.
INFORMATION AND RESULTS
HELSINGBORG, Sweden – Junior Team USA bowler Katelyn Abigania of San Diego got off to a solid start during the first eight games of round-robin match play at the 2025 International Bowling Federation Youth World Cup, which is taking place at Olympia Bowling in Helsingborg, Sweden.
The 18-year-old right-hander went 5-3 and tallied 1,811 pins (including 30 bonus pins for each match victory) on Friday to secure fourth place in the women’s Round of 16 standings heading into Saturday’s final seven-game block of round-robin matches.
Abigania trails only Norway’s Jenny Mathiesen (8-0; 2,114), qualifying leader and defending Youth World Cup women’s champion Elena Weinstok of Costa Rica (3-4-1; 1,858) and Singapore’s Shi En Lim (5-2-1; 1,846).
But who Abigania trails isn’t all that important just yet; it’s how many bowlers she remained in front of that really counts.
Friday’s effort placed the two-time Junior Gold champion 124 pins above the cut line, which currently is held by Sweden’s Maja Engberg (4-4; 1,687), who finished the opening block of matches in eighth place.
If Abigania can remain eighth or better at the conclusion of round-robin play early Saturday afternoon, she will advance to the women’s quarterfinals, which will take place later that day and see the No. 1 seed facing the No. 8 seed, the No. 2 seed battling the No. 7 seed and so on.
Abigania would certainly like to move on, but she feels she’ll need to be a bit more consistent on Saturday in order to make that happen.
“I did all I could during my wins to get as many pins as possible, but my lows were too low today, much lower than I would want them to be,” Abigania said. “I need to keep making the best out of the good pairs and do my best to fill frames on the tougher pairs.”
Abigania had a hard time filling frames at the start of Friday’s set as she split four times in the first seven frames during a 256-167 opening-game loss to 2024 United States Bowling Congress Intercollegiate Singles Championships women’s champion Sara Duque of Colombia, who bowls collegiately for Wichita State.
The four-time Junior Team USA gold medalist rebounded in fine fashion, however, opening just twice during her next four matches, which included wins over Germany’s Fiona Lindemann (216-166), Engberg (212-189), England’s Jessica Sillis (224-192) and Australia’s Samantha Clifton (226-159).
Abigania dropped the next two matches, falling 199-170 to Finland’s Stella Lökfors and 242-224 to Weinstok, before closing her day with a 222-183 victory over Vivan Banjac of Croatia.
Despite the up-and-down performance, Abigania ended Day 1 of round-robin competition with a winning record, which is always the name of the game during match play; nevertheless, she knows that she’ll have to continue grinding out victories in order to stay in the top eight and advance on Saturday.
“I need to keep winning matches,” Abigania said. “To do that, I have to keep making good shots, be on top of things and make my spares.”
Finland’s Luukas Vaananen was certainly on top of things during Friday’s opening set of round-robin matches as he posted a 7-1 record and led the men’s Round of 16 field with a score of 2,164 including bonus pins.
Reigning Youth World Cup men’s champion Robin Ilhammar of Sweden thrilled his home country fans by finishing Friday’s block in second place with a 6-2 record and a score of 2,081.
The final spot in the opening round Top 3 went to 2025 ISC men’s national champion Blake Walsh (6-2; 2,030), who bowls collegiately for Mount Mercy when not representing Australia in international competition.
The men’s cut line currently sits at 1,890, which was the total posted by Malta’s Nicholas Muscat (4-4).
However, with seven games to go and 210 bonus pins available during the final set of round-robin matches, all 32 athletes still competing at this year’s tournament still have the potential to make a run to the podium on Saturday, which will be the final day of competition at the 2025 Youth World Cup.
The four quarterfinal winners will advance to the semifinal round while those that fall will be eliminated.
Once the semifinals are completed, the two winners in each division will advance to bowl for gold and silver. The bowlers who come up short during the semis will square off to decide who takes home the men’s and women’s bronze medals.
After all medals have been conferred, the day will end with athletes and coaches taking part in the Victory Banquet, which will officially bring the tournament to a close.
To be eligible for the 2025 IBF Youth World Cup, athletes had to have been between the ages of 13 and 20 on Jan. 1, 2025.
For information and results from the 2025 IBF Youth World Cup, CLICK HERE.
CLICK HERE for more information on Junior Team USA.
INFORMATION AND RESULTS
HELSINGBORG, Sweden – Junior Team USA bowler Katelyn Abigania of San Diego got off to a solid start during the first eight games of round-robin match play at the 2025 International Bowling Federation Youth World Cup, which is taking place at Olympia Bowling in Helsingborg, Sweden.
The 18-year-old right-hander went 5-3 and tallied 1,811 pins (including 30 bonus pins for each match victory) on Friday to secure fourth place in the women’s Round of 16 standings heading into Saturday’s final seven-game block of round-robin matches.
Abigania trails only Norway’s Jenny Mathiesen (8-0; 2,114), qualifying leader and defending Youth World Cup women’s champion Elena Weinstok of Costa Rica (3-4-1; 1,858) and Singapore’s Shi En Lim (5-2-1; 1,846).
But who Abigania trails isn’t all that important just yet; it’s how many bowlers she remained in front of that really counts.
Friday’s effort placed the two-time Junior Gold champion 124 pins above the cut line, which currently is held by Sweden’s Maja Engberg (4-4; 1,687), who finished the opening block of matches in eighth place.
If Abigania can remain eighth or better at the conclusion of round-robin play early Saturday afternoon, she will advance to the women’s quarterfinals, which will take place later that day and see the No. 1 seed facing the No. 8 seed, the No. 2 seed battling the No. 7 seed and so on.
Abigania would certainly like to move on, but she feels she’ll need to be a bit more consistent on Saturday in order to make that happen.
“I did all I could during my wins to get as many pins as possible, but my lows were too low today, much lower than I would want them to be,” Abigania said. “I need to keep making the best out of the good pairs and do my best to fill frames on the tougher pairs.”
Abigania had a hard time filling frames at the start of Friday’s set as she split four times in the first seven frames during a 256-167 opening-game loss to 2024 United States Bowling Congress Intercollegiate Singles Championships women’s champion Sara Duque of Colombia, who bowls collegiately for Wichita State.
The four-time Junior Team USA gold medalist rebounded in fine fashion, however, opening just twice during her next four matches, which included wins over Germany’s Fiona Lindemann (216-166), Engberg (212-189), England’s Jessica Sillis (224-192) and Australia’s Samantha Clifton (226-159).
Abigania dropped the next two matches, falling 199-170 to Finland’s Stella Lökfors and 242-224 to Weinstok, before closing her day with a 222-183 victory over Vivan Banjac of Croatia.
Despite the up-and-down performance, Abigania ended Day 1 of round-robin competition with a winning record, which is always the name of the game during match play; nevertheless, she knows that she’ll have to continue grinding out victories in order to stay in the top eight and advance on Saturday.
“I need to keep winning matches,” Abigania said. “To do that, I have to keep making good shots, be on top of things and make my spares.”
Finland’s Luukas Vaananen was certainly on top of things during Friday’s opening set of round-robin matches as he posted a 7-1 record and led the men’s Round of 16 field with a score of 2,164 including bonus pins.
Reigning Youth World Cup men’s champion Robin Ilhammar of Sweden thrilled his home country fans by finishing Friday’s block in second place with a 6-2 record and a score of 2,081.
The final spot in the opening round Top 3 went to 2025 ISC men’s national champion Blake Walsh (6-2; 2,030), who bowls collegiately for Mount Mercy when not representing Australia in international competition.
The men’s cut line currently sits at 1,890, which was the total posted by Malta’s Nicholas Muscat (4-4).
However, with seven games to go and 210 bonus pins available during the final set of round-robin matches, all 32 athletes still competing at this year’s tournament still have the potential to make a run to the podium on Saturday, which will be the final day of competition at the 2025 Youth World Cup.
The four quarterfinal winners will advance to the semifinal round while those that fall will be eliminated.
Once the semifinals are completed, the two winners in each division will advance to bowl for gold and silver. The bowlers who come up short during the semis will square off to decide who takes home the men’s and women’s bronze medals.
After all medals have been conferred, the day will end with athletes and coaches taking part in the Victory Banquet, which will officially bring the tournament to a close.
To be eligible for the 2025 IBF Youth World Cup, athletes had to have been between the ages of 13 and 20 on Jan. 1, 2025.
For information and results from the 2025 IBF Youth World Cup, CLICK HERE.
CLICK HERE for more information on Junior Team USA.