On Saturday, the United States had one of their best showings at a European event in several years as four athletes earned bronze, two came away with silver, and the roster scored a top-3 finish in the team standings.
The 2024 Valamar Cup in Porec, Croatia – a new Senior event added to this year’s calendar – saw Billy Sullivan (55 kg, Army/WCAP) and Dalton Roberts (60 kg, Army/WCAP) pick up the two American silver medals while Max Black (60 kg, NMU/NTS), Benji Peak (72 kg, Combat WC), Olympian Payton Jacobson (87 kg, NMU/NTS), and Beka Melelashvili (82 kg, NYAC) walked away with bronze. Georgia won the tournament, Ukraine took second, and Team USA placed third.
As reported in the mid-session recap during the event, there were two items of particular interest at 60 kilograms for the US. Black and Roberts were paired in the opening round of their bracket’s round-robin and Black was able to convert a critical par terre chance late in the match to grab a 2-2 criteria decision for his first win over Roberts. They had met once previously. In the semifinals of the ‘24 Olympic Trials, Roberts decisioned Black before surviving yet another three-match battle against Ildar Hafizov (Army/WCAP). Black later took third at the Olympic Trials to secure a spot on the US National Team.
But in the second round of action on Saturday, Roberts overcame a 7-0 first-period deficit against reigning U23 World Champion Giorgi Tokhadze (GEO). Roberts’ brand of insistent pressure eventually delivered too high of a pace for Tokhadze to follow – and when the match had ended, Roberts had come all the way back to prevail by a score of 13-10. This outcome is set to be isolated in the “Memorable Matches” category on 5PM in conjunction with a more detailed exploration into how it unfolded with a series of GIFs highlighting each pivotal scoring sequence.
Individual Notes
All six of the placewinners from the US at the Valamar Cup had previously earned Senior international medals.
Roberts, who at 28 was the second-oldest American in the tournament behind teammate Ildar Hafizov (on the ’24 Non-Olympic World Team at 63 kg), now has 10 pieces of international hardware — the most of the group.
— ’16 Haavisto Cup silver (FIN)
— ’17 Lavrikov Memorial gold (RUS)
— ’18 Granma Cup bronze
— ’18 Bill Farrell Memorial silver (USA)
— ’18 Grand Prix of Germany silver (GER)
— ’19 Dave Schultz Memorial bronze (USA)
— ’22 Bill Farrell Memorial gold (USA)
— ’23 Pan-Am Championships gold (ARG)
— ’23 Military World bronze (AZE)
— ’24 Valamar Cup silver (CRO)
The rest in weight class order are:
Sullivan
— ’20 Thor Masters silver (DEN)
— ’24 Valamar Cup silver (CRO)
Black
— ’24 Thor Masters bronze (DEN)
— ’24 Valamar Cup bronze (CRO)
Peak
— ’17 Klippan Cup bronze (SWE)
— ’18 Klippan Cup gold (SWE)
— ’24 Valamar Cup bronze (CRO)
Jacobson
— ’19 Klippan Cup silver (SWE)
— ’23 Bill Farrell Memorial gold (USA)
— ’24 Valamar Cup bronze (CRO)
Melelashvili
— ’22 Druskinikai Cup silver (LTU)
— ’24 Valamar Cup bronze (CRO)
There are technicalities or due explanations attached to the above list, particularly with regards to Peak, Jacobson, and Melelashvili.
The Klippan Cup in Sweden, from where both Peak and Jacobson had earned medals several years ago, is classified as a Senior tournament — but it is not one beholden to what would normally be construed as a high level of competition. The Klippan Cup had been valuable to the US from a developmental perspective because it included a large percentage of age-group-eligible athletes mainly from in and around Scandinavia. But it is, or was, a Senior event, and so the results are logged for Peak and Jacobson.
This past August, Melelashvili placed second at the Druskinikai Cup in Lithuania. He earned silver at the tournament in ’22, as well. However — this year, the Druskinikai Cup was a U23 tournament whereas in ’22 it was a Senior event.
Dubuque RTC Showcase
This coming Saturday (October 5), the Dubuque RTC is hosting the National RTC Duals Showcase, which also functions as a fundraiser for their program. The main event of the proceedings will be a dual meet pitting the home team against Northern Michigan University’s National Training Site. Other matches are expected to also be featured. A preview of the event — including rosters, the schedule, and streaming information — will be released later in the week.
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