Americans to bowl for gold in Girls' Singles, Doubles, earn bronze in Boys' Doubles at World Youth Championships
July 05, 2026
Sunday was a banner day for Junior Team USA at the 2026 IBF World Youth Championships in Malaysia. Elizabeth Teuber of Holly, Michigan, and Erin Klemencic of Powder Springs, Georgia (far left), advanced to the Girls' Doubles gold-medal match while Katelyn Abigania of San Diego and Gianna Brandolino of Channahon, Illinois (center) moved on to the finals in Girls' Singles. Landin Jordan of Sycamore, Illinois, and Dawson Peterson of Stewartville, Minnesota, earned bronze in Boys' Doubles.
FULL RESULTS
ARLINGTON, Texas – Junior Team USA secured a Boys’ Doubles bronze medal and advanced to the championship match in both Girls’ Singles and Girls’ Doubles on Sunday at the 2026 International Bowling Federation World Youth Championships in Sarawak, Malaysia.
The day’s action at Megalanes Sarawak Bowling Centre kicked off with the Boys’ Singles semifinals, which saw Landin Jordan of Sycamore, Illinois, take on Sweden’s Emil Svensson in one semi as Australia’s Julian Dinham and Ben Pettit of New Zealand did battle in the other.
Both affairs resulted in 2-0 sweeps with Dinham downing Pettit by scores of 229-197 and 290-229 and Svensson eliminating Junior Team USA’s Jordan 235-207 and 232-218.
Dinham and Svensson will face off for Boys’ Singles gold on Monday. Pettit and Jordan, meanwhile, walked away with bronze.
The American contingent is guaranteed gold and silver in Girls’ Singles, however. That’s because Katelyn Abigania of San Diego and Gianna Brandolino of Channahon, Illinois, both overcame opening-game losses and rallied for 2-1 semifinal victories on Sunday.
Abigania took down Singapore’s Hazel Tan Wei Ning (192-228; 201-172; 224-190), and Brandolino got past Shi En Lim (201-246; 280-198; 225-163), who also was representing Singapore.
The two bowlers from Singapore ended their stellar runs with bronze medals while Junior Team USA’s Abigania and Brandolino will battle one another for Girls’ Singles gold on Monday.
Erin Klemencic of Powder Springs, Georgia, and Elizabeth Teuber of Holly, Michigan, will try to reach the top of the podium in Girls’ Doubles by taking down the Malaysian duo of Adelia Nur Irwan Syazalee and Adania Mohd Redzwan.
Klemencic and Teuber earned their spot in the gold-medal match by defeating Finland’s Emma Palermaa and Stella Lokfors by final scores of 243-199 and 220-189 during Baker doubles action at Megalanes on Sunday.
The other semifinal saw Syazalee and Redzwan sweep Nicole Layrisse and Maja Engberg of Sweden, 226-192 and 257-144, forcing the Swedes to settle for a share of the bronze medal alongside the Finnish duo.
Finland will bowl for gold in Boys’ Doubles, however, and that’s because the duo of Roni Leskinen and Juho Vuoppola closed out Sunday evening’s competition in Sarawak with a 231-227, 203-182 victory over Junior Team USA’s Jordan and Dawson Peterson of Stewartville, Minnesota.
Sunday’s other Boys’ Doubles semifinal match pitted Germany’s Phil Baumeister and Jaden Wolff against Abdulrahman Al Doseri and Talal Al Marri of Qatar, a contest which Al Doseri and Al Marri swept 2-0 (246-226; 220-215).
The gold-medal match between Qatar and Finland will take place on Monday. Jordan and Peterson, and Baumeister and Wolff ended their respective doubles runs donning bronze.
With the completion of Sunday’s singles and doubles semifinals at Megalanes, the Junior Team USA boys – Jordan, Peterson, Jacob Bockstie of Nottingham, Maryland, and Josh Hammons of Topeka, Kansas – have seen their run at the 2026 IBF World Youth Championships come to an end.
Abigania, Brandolino, Klemencic and Teuber, on the other hand, all will be in action on Monday, taking part in the aforementioned singles and doubles finals as well as the Girls’ Team gold-medal match where they will face Singapore.
All four American ladies were proud of the efforts they put forth on Sunday and are anxious to get back on the lanes during Monday’s final day of competition.
“I’m just really excited to go out, enjoy the moment and live it to the fullest potential,” Brandolino said. “I’m just going to try to make good shots, and hopefully the pins fall my and our way.”
For Abigania, the opportunity to compete in two gold-medal matches is special because of what it means in the larger picture.
“This is bigger than all of us; it’s for our country,” Abigania said. “It feels really good to be able to do this for everyone back home. Thank you to USBC (the United States Bowling Congress) and the board of directors for making this possible for us; without you guys, we wouldn’t be here.”
Teuber is likewise grateful as the 2026 IBF World Youth Championships is her first international competition representing Junior Team USA, and now she sits just a few games away from possibly emerging with two gold medals.
“This is a new experience for me, so to get to come out here, do my own thing, execute and bowl with Erin (Klemencic) for doubles gold and Erin, Katelyn (Abigania) and Gianna (Brandolino) in the team finals is a really cool accomplishment; I’m pretty excited,” Teuber said.
According to Klemencic, hers and Teuber’s success on Sunday was a byproduct of focusing on themselves instead of getting caught up in the magnitude of the moment.
“We did a very good job of staying in our lane and just worrying about what we could control, which was our execution,” Klemencic said. “We executed really well today and stuck to that mindset, and it worked out pretty well.”
Klemencic, Teuber, Brandolino and Teuber will hope things continue working in their favor during Monday’s final day of competition, which will see the gold-medal matches contested in all four events, singles, doubles, team and mixed team.
Once the final shots have been delivered and medals conferred, the Victory Banquet will officially bring the 2026 IBF World Youth Championships to a close on Monday night.
CLICK HERE for more information on Junior Team USA.
FULL RESULTS
ARLINGTON, Texas – Junior Team USA secured a Boys’ Doubles bronze medal and advanced to the championship match in both Girls’ Singles and Girls’ Doubles on Sunday at the 2026 International Bowling Federation World Youth Championships in Sarawak, Malaysia.
The day’s action at Megalanes Sarawak Bowling Centre kicked off with the Boys’ Singles semifinals, which saw Landin Jordan of Sycamore, Illinois, take on Sweden’s Emil Svensson in one semi as Australia’s Julian Dinham and Ben Pettit of New Zealand did battle in the other.
Both affairs resulted in 2-0 sweeps with Dinham downing Pettit by scores of 229-197 and 290-229 and Svensson eliminating Junior Team USA’s Jordan 235-207 and 232-218.
Dinham and Svensson will face off for Boys’ Singles gold on Monday. Pettit and Jordan, meanwhile, walked away with bronze.
The American contingent is guaranteed gold and silver in Girls’ Singles, however. That’s because Katelyn Abigania of San Diego and Gianna Brandolino of Channahon, Illinois, both overcame opening-game losses and rallied for 2-1 semifinal victories on Sunday.
Abigania took down Singapore’s Hazel Tan Wei Ning (192-228; 201-172; 224-190), and Brandolino got past Shi En Lim (201-246; 280-198; 225-163), who also was representing Singapore.
The two bowlers from Singapore ended their stellar runs with bronze medals while Junior Team USA’s Abigania and Brandolino will battle one another for Girls’ Singles gold on Monday.
Erin Klemencic of Powder Springs, Georgia, and Elizabeth Teuber of Holly, Michigan, will try to reach the top of the podium in Girls’ Doubles by taking down the Malaysian duo of Adelia Nur Irwan Syazalee and Adania Mohd Redzwan.
Klemencic and Teuber earned their spot in the gold-medal match by defeating Finland’s Emma Palermaa and Stella Lokfors by final scores of 243-199 and 220-189 during Baker doubles action at Megalanes on Sunday.
The other semifinal saw Syazalee and Redzwan sweep Nicole Layrisse and Maja Engberg of Sweden, 226-192 and 257-144, forcing the Swedes to settle for a share of the bronze medal alongside the Finnish duo.
Finland will bowl for gold in Boys’ Doubles, however, and that’s because the duo of Roni Leskinen and Juho Vuoppola closed out Sunday evening’s competition in Sarawak with a 231-227, 203-182 victory over Junior Team USA’s Jordan and Dawson Peterson of Stewartville, Minnesota.
Sunday’s other Boys’ Doubles semifinal match pitted Germany’s Phil Baumeister and Jaden Wolff against Abdulrahman Al Doseri and Talal Al Marri of Qatar, a contest which Al Doseri and Al Marri swept 2-0 (246-226; 220-215).
The gold-medal match between Qatar and Finland will take place on Monday. Jordan and Peterson, and Baumeister and Wolff ended their respective doubles runs donning bronze.
With the completion of Sunday’s singles and doubles semifinals at Megalanes, the Junior Team USA boys – Jordan, Peterson, Jacob Bockstie of Nottingham, Maryland, and Josh Hammons of Topeka, Kansas – have seen their run at the 2026 IBF World Youth Championships come to an end.
Abigania, Brandolino, Klemencic and Teuber, on the other hand, all will be in action on Monday, taking part in the aforementioned singles and doubles finals as well as the Girls’ Team gold-medal match where they will face Singapore.
All four American ladies were proud of the efforts they put forth on Sunday and are anxious to get back on the lanes during Monday’s final day of competition.
“I’m just really excited to go out, enjoy the moment and live it to the fullest potential,” Brandolino said. “I’m just going to try to make good shots, and hopefully the pins fall my and our way.”
For Abigania, the opportunity to compete in two gold-medal matches is special because of what it means in the larger picture.
“This is bigger than all of us; it’s for our country,” Abigania said. “It feels really good to be able to do this for everyone back home. Thank you to USBC (the United States Bowling Congress) and the board of directors for making this possible for us; without you guys, we wouldn’t be here.”
Teuber is likewise grateful as the 2026 IBF World Youth Championships is her first international competition representing Junior Team USA, and now she sits just a few games away from possibly emerging with two gold medals.
“This is a new experience for me, so to get to come out here, do my own thing, execute and bowl with Erin (Klemencic) for doubles gold and Erin, Katelyn (Abigania) and Gianna (Brandolino) in the team finals is a really cool accomplishment; I’m pretty excited,” Teuber said.
According to Klemencic, hers and Teuber’s success on Sunday was a byproduct of focusing on themselves instead of getting caught up in the magnitude of the moment.
“We did a very good job of staying in our lane and just worrying about what we could control, which was our execution,” Klemencic said. “We executed really well today and stuck to that mindset, and it worked out pretty well.”
Klemencic, Teuber, Brandolino and Teuber will hope things continue working in their favor during Monday’s final day of competition, which will see the gold-medal matches contested in all four events, singles, doubles, team and mixed team.
Once the final shots have been delivered and medals conferred, the Victory Banquet will officially bring the 2026 IBF World Youth Championships to a close on Monday night.
CLICK HERE for more information on Junior Team USA.