Brock University women’s wrestler Michelle Fazzari captured a bronze medal in the 58kg weight class at the 2017 Senior World Championships in Paris, France Wednesday.

“It’s a great start for me in the new quadrennial winning my first medal at the world level,” said Michelle Fazzari. “I will use this performance to catapult me to the next level.”

“It was a great day today for Brock Wrestling and Canada Wrestling converting yet another Badger into a world medallist,” said Brock wrestling head coach Marty Calder. “It was another team effort by the coaches and athletes at Brock who all contributed to this performance.”

Fazzari posted a 3-1 record with wins over 2016 Olympic silver medalist Valeria Koblova Zholobova (RUS), Iryna Netreba (AZE) and Elin Nilsson (SWE) in the bronze medal match. Her lone loss came in the semi-finals against 2016 Olympic Gold Medalist and the eventual 2017 World Champion Helen Maroulis (USA).

“What a great performance by Michelle, in particular beating last year’s Olympic silver medal winner in her first match,” said Calder. “We see great things in the near future for her leading into the 2020 Olympic games in Tokyo.”

The Badgers’ Diana Weicker placed 12th after posting a 1-1 record with her lone victory coming against Sandra Paruszewski (GER).

Jessica MacDonald (53kg) and Olivia Di Bacco (69kg) were both scheduled to compete Thursday at the World Championships and Jevon Balfour (74kg) will compete Saturday.