MILWAUKEE — Wisconsin's speller is out of the Scripps National Spelling Bee after he made it to the semifinals but was eliminated Thursday night.
Aiden Wijeyakulasuriya was eliminated after he failed to correctly define obviate, which means to make something unnecessary. Aiden, a Madison seventh grader, had previously competed in the spelling bee in 2019, where he tied for 51st place.
Aiden and his father joined us on TMJ4 News Today to talk about Aiden's experience taking part in the bee.
Watch the video above to see what he had to say.
Aiden's time in the Scripps National Spelling Bee:
Aiden began his experience in this year's bee Tuesday by spelling the word bahuvrihi correctly. In the meaning round, he successfully defined meridian.
Later Tuesday night, Aiden spelled burpee correctly, which secured him a spot in the quarterfinals.
The quarterfinals kicked off Wednesday, and Aiden correctly spelled glomerulonephritis and defined forswear. He moved on to the semifinals then Wednesday evening, where he successfully spelled ctenidium but failed to define obviate.
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