Abigania moves up leaderboard on Day 2 of qualifying at 2025 IBF Youth World Cup
June 18, 2025
Katelyn Abigania of San Diego and Connor Fleming of Fort Worth, Texas, smile on the approach at Olympia Bowling in Helsingborg, Sweden, prior to Wednesday's second round of qualifying at the 2025 IBF Youth World Cup.
INFORMATION AND RESULTS
HELSINGBORG, Sweden – During the walk to the bowling center on Wednesday morning, Junior Team USA Head Coach Kelly Kulick looked at bowler Katelyn Abigania and said, “It’s going to be a great day.”
At the time, Kulick’s words sounded like everyday coach-speak, something any leader would say to rally the troops after a slow start; however, three hours and 60 frames later, it became clear that Kulick hadn’t just made a proclamation; she’d made a prediction.
That’s because Abigania did exactly what Kulick said she was going to do as the 18-year-old right-hander from San Diego was great during Round 2 of qualifying at the 2025 International Bowling Federation Youth World Cup, which is being contested at Olympia Bowling in Helsingborg, Sweden.
Abigania started her day with a score of 256, which was nearly 50 pins higher than her best game during Tuesday’s first six-game qualifying block.
The two-time Junior Gold champion hardly slowed down from there, however, adding scores of 224, 192, 219, 213 and 249 to finish Round 2 with a six-game total of 1,353 (a 225.5 average). That gave Abigania a 12-game mark of 2,448, which allowed her to move up from 18th place at the start of action on Wednesday to sixth place in the 31-player women’s field by day’s end.
Costa Rica’s Elena Weinstok, the defending Youth World Cup women’s champion, finished with 2,509 to secure the overall lead for the second day in a row. She was joined in the women’s top three by Denmark’s Karen Nielsen (2,506) and Jenny Mathiesen of Norway (2,496).
A little more than an hour after the ladies finished up, Junior Team USA’s Connor Fleming and the rest of the 37-player men’s field began Round 2.
Like his teammate, Fleming, a 21-year-old two-handed righty from Fort Worth, Texas, started strong, beginning his day with a scintillating 257.
Unfortunately, the momentum didn’t last as tricky pairs of lanes, inconsistent pin carry and the demanding nature of the 43-foot Youth World Cup oil pattern took Fleming on a five-game roller coaster ride that resulted in scores of 186, 210, 151, 201 and 228 to close out Round 2.
That gave Fleming a six-game mark of 1,233 on Wednesday, which pushed his two-day, 12-game total to 2,439, keeping him in 26th place.
Fleming will need to climb to at least 16th by the end of Thursday’s final six-game qualifying block in order to make the cut to round-robin match play.
New Zealand’s Ben Pettit occupies the final advancing spot through two rounds of men’s qualifying thanks to a 12-game total of 2,543.
While Fleming, Pettit and a host of others are focused on the cut line, Slovakia’s Simon Hrusovsky leads the men’s field after two rounds at 2,819, which was helped greatly by a six-game score of 1,471 (a 245.17 average) on Wednesday.
Hrusovsky is joined in the men’s top three by Mathias Otting of Norway (2,716) and Day 1 leader Nicolas Carter of Denmark (2,709).
Even though he’ll begin Thursday’s final qualifying block more than 100 pins outside the cut number, Fleming isn’t backing down an inch; instead, he intends to examine the highs and lows of Wednesday’s round in the hopes of finding more consistent success during Round 3.
“I’m going to talk with Coach Kelly (Kulick) tonight, and we’re going to evaluate today and how the lanes broke down,” Fleming said. “My guess would be that we’re going to start a little more left, have more angle through the front and really throw it toward the gutter tomorrow because at some points today I don’t think I was far enough left.”
In addition to periodic difficulties with lane play, Fleming also was plagued by some terrible luck on Wednesday as untimely pocket splits kept some of his big games from being huge and brought his score down even lower when he was struggling.
Nevertheless, Fleming just sees those bad breaks as part of the game.
“Sometimes it’s your day and the pins are going to fall, and sometimes they’re not,” Fleming said. “That’s the sport we play. My mindset has always sort of been if they fall, they fall; if they don’t, they don’t.”
It must have been Abigania’s day then because the pins fell early and often for her throughout Round 2. Because of that, she will start Thursday’s final six-game qualifying block nearly 160 pins above the cut line, which leaves her looking like a solid bet to advance to match play in the women’s division.
Even though Abigania won’t be taking anything for granted on Thursday, she is grateful for the position Wednesday’s stellar Round 2 effort has her in.
“I’m definitely a little bit relieved,” Abigania said. “I think we have the right gameplan now, so I’m confident heading into the next round.”
That game plan seemed to work from the first frame of Game 1 on Wednesday, which allowed Abigania to start strong and keep the momentum going throughout her set.
“It was great to start with 256 because I felt good in practice and was able to carry it over,” Abigania said. “My spare shooting was great today, and I struck a lot, which allowed me to keep making good shots and trust my process.”
If Abigania can find her comfort zone quickly again on Thursday, then she’s likely to continue the process of moving ever closer to the top of the leaderboard.
All competitors at the 2025 IBF Youth World Cup will bowl their final six-game qualifying blocks on Thursday.
Once those games have been completed and all athletes have 18-game qualifying totals, each field will be cut to the top 16 players who will advance to round-robin match play, which will begin on Friday and wrap up Saturday morning.
Only eight men and eight women will survive round-robin play and remain in medal contention when best-of-three-game matches are contested during the quarterfinal, semifinal and final rounds on Saturday afternoon.
Quarterfinal round matchups will see the No. 1 seed facing the No. 8 seed, the No. 2 seed battling the No. 7 seed and so on.
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 – During the walk to the bowling center on Wednesday morning, Junior Team USA Head Coach Kelly Kulick looked at bowler Katelyn Abigania and said, “It’s going to be a great day.”
At the time, Kulick’s words sounded like everyday coach-speak, something any leader would say to rally the troops after a slow start; however, three hours and 60 frames later, it became clear that Kulick hadn’t just made a proclamation; she’d made a prediction.
That’s because Abigania did exactly what Kulick said she was going to do as the 18-year-old right-hander from San Diego was great during Round 2 of qualifying at the 2025 International Bowling Federation Youth World Cup, which is being contested at Olympia Bowling in Helsingborg, Sweden.
Abigania started her day with a score of 256, which was nearly 50 pins higher than her best game during Tuesday’s first six-game qualifying block.
The two-time Junior Gold champion hardly slowed down from there, however, adding scores of 224, 192, 219, 213 and 249 to finish Round 2 with a six-game total of 1,353 (a 225.5 average). That gave Abigania a 12-game mark of 2,448, which allowed her to move up from 18th place at the start of action on Wednesday to sixth place in the 31-player women’s field by day’s end.
Costa Rica’s Elena Weinstok, the defending Youth World Cup women’s champion, finished with 2,509 to secure the overall lead for the second day in a row. She was joined in the women’s top three by Denmark’s Karen Nielsen (2,506) and Jenny Mathiesen of Norway (2,496).
A little more than an hour after the ladies finished up, Junior Team USA’s Connor Fleming and the rest of the 37-player men’s field began Round 2.
Like his teammate, Fleming, a 21-year-old two-handed righty from Fort Worth, Texas, started strong, beginning his day with a scintillating 257.
Unfortunately, the momentum didn’t last as tricky pairs of lanes, inconsistent pin carry and the demanding nature of the 43-foot Youth World Cup oil pattern took Fleming on a five-game roller coaster ride that resulted in scores of 186, 210, 151, 201 and 228 to close out Round 2.
That gave Fleming a six-game mark of 1,233 on Wednesday, which pushed his two-day, 12-game total to 2,439, keeping him in 26th place.
Fleming will need to climb to at least 16th by the end of Thursday’s final six-game qualifying block in order to make the cut to round-robin match play.
New Zealand’s Ben Pettit occupies the final advancing spot through two rounds of men’s qualifying thanks to a 12-game total of 2,543.
While Fleming, Pettit and a host of others are focused on the cut line, Slovakia’s Simon Hrusovsky leads the men’s field after two rounds at 2,819, which was helped greatly by a six-game score of 1,471 (a 245.17 average) on Wednesday.
Hrusovsky is joined in the men’s top three by Mathias Otting of Norway (2,716) and Day 1 leader Nicolas Carter of Denmark (2,709).
Even though he’ll begin Thursday’s final qualifying block more than 100 pins outside the cut number, Fleming isn’t backing down an inch; instead, he intends to examine the highs and lows of Wednesday’s round in the hopes of finding more consistent success during Round 3.
“I’m going to talk with Coach Kelly (Kulick) tonight, and we’re going to evaluate today and how the lanes broke down,” Fleming said. “My guess would be that we’re going to start a little more left, have more angle through the front and really throw it toward the gutter tomorrow because at some points today I don’t think I was far enough left.”
In addition to periodic difficulties with lane play, Fleming also was plagued by some terrible luck on Wednesday as untimely pocket splits kept some of his big games from being huge and brought his score down even lower when he was struggling.
Nevertheless, Fleming just sees those bad breaks as part of the game.
“Sometimes it’s your day and the pins are going to fall, and sometimes they’re not,” Fleming said. “That’s the sport we play. My mindset has always sort of been if they fall, they fall; if they don’t, they don’t.”
It must have been Abigania’s day then because the pins fell early and often for her throughout Round 2. Because of that, she will start Thursday’s final six-game qualifying block nearly 160 pins above the cut line, which leaves her looking like a solid bet to advance to match play in the women’s division.
Even though Abigania won’t be taking anything for granted on Thursday, she is grateful for the position Wednesday’s stellar Round 2 effort has her in.
“I’m definitely a little bit relieved,” Abigania said. “I think we have the right gameplan now, so I’m confident heading into the next round.”
That game plan seemed to work from the first frame of Game 1 on Wednesday, which allowed Abigania to start strong and keep the momentum going throughout her set.
“It was great to start with 256 because I felt good in practice and was able to carry it over,” Abigania said. “My spare shooting was great today, and I struck a lot, which allowed me to keep making good shots and trust my process.”
If Abigania can find her comfort zone quickly again on Thursday, then she’s likely to continue the process of moving ever closer to the top of the leaderboard.
All competitors at the 2025 IBF Youth World Cup will bowl their final six-game qualifying blocks on Thursday.
Once those games have been completed and all athletes have 18-game qualifying totals, each field will be cut to the top 16 players who will advance to round-robin match play, which will begin on Friday and wrap up Saturday morning.
Only eight men and eight women will survive round-robin play and remain in medal contention when best-of-three-game matches are contested during the quarterfinal, semifinal and final rounds on Saturday afternoon.
Quarterfinal round matchups will see the No. 1 seed facing the No. 8 seed, the No. 2 seed battling the No. 7 seed and so on.
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.