A small delegation of only four American wrestlers are set to compete this weekend at the 2026 Sundsvall Open in Sundsvall, Sweden. The annual age-group tournament has become a popular stop for the United States program in recent years with numerous athletes performing well competitively — and then also sticking around for additional training following the event’s conclusion.
For the ’26 edition of Sundsvall, Combat WC founder Lucas Steldt will be bringing two Greco-Roman athletes –his son, Colton Steldt (67 kg) and Michael Daleiden (71 kg). In addition, there will also be a pair of women’s freestyle competitors — Steldt’s daughter Avery and Emerson Miller. Avery Steldt has been a very active and promising wrestler in her own right and sports a substantial amount of overseas experience.
Alas, this is a Greco-Roman platform and, as such, that is where the focus resides when it comes to Sundsvall. Lucas Steldt just prior to departing for Sweden provided the following report in an effort to both set the tone for the event as well as to re-establish how trips like this one fit into his overall perspective on Greco-Roman athlete development.
Steldt
“We have a young wrestler in Michael Daleiden (U17) who we are pushing to 71 kg. We want him growing as we are projecting him to compete at 87 or 97 kg as a Senior-level athlete. This isn’t his first trip across the pond for Greco-Roman. He comes from Ringers, which as everyone hopefully knows is one of the biggest supporters of Greco in our country as well as one of our strongest clubs. Ringers has given us two-time World Team member Benji Peak (77 kg, Combat) and ’24 Olympian/’25 U23 World bronze Payton Jacobson (87 kg, NYAC/NTS). Both of those athletes left high school and the traditional American folkstyle system early when they were 16-years-old. Daleiden did the same at 15 and we are extremely excited to have him full-time at Combat.
“The second athlete is Colton Steldt. This will be his first trip overseas and is competing in the U20 division. Again, he is on a growth plan and is being pushed to 67 kg. We are looking at him landing between the 77 and 82 kg weight classes later in his career.
“Both of these athletes are inexperienced comparatively to the our previous Blue River class (where Combat is located in Wisconsin) that moved on to Northern Michigan’s National Training Site this past fall. But that’s the process with grassroots development, to gather the athletes at the correct ages and insert them into the correct process and plan. There are two primary components developing athletes require: 1) opportunity; 2) support. Most things fall under these two categories.
“We try to provide the best opportunities for training and competition for athletes to reach their domestic goals and, more importantly, to receive worldwide exposure. We are very concerned with our athletes’ international Greco cultural immersion. We use the word “immersion” over others because we believe that definition better describes what our athletes need.
“I’m excited to get to Sweden and see old friends. This tour is an offshoot of the pre-COVID Klippan tour that former NMU head coach Rob Herman presented to me many years ago to help me grow as a coach. We went to Klippan and Vasteras (Malar Cupen) each year until the pandemic hit. Then the Sundsvall Wrestling Club took off and the Klippan competition has yet to be re-established for Greco. Sometimes opportunities are offered, and sometimes they are made. But opportunities, in general, are only useful for those who take advantage and invest in them.”
Tournament Info
The 2026 Sundsvall Wrestling Open begins on Saturday, January 16 at 10:00am local time (4:00am ET). Live broadcast coverage will be available on YouTube at this link. UPDATE: an additional four other United States competitors will also be appearing in Sundsvall, all of whom hail from Doane University. They are: Ned Kauffman (63 kg), recent U20 World Team member Patrick Brackett (77 kg), Tommy Brackett (87 kg), and Cameron Groncki (130 kg).
SUBSCRIBE TO THE FIVE POINT MOVE PODCAST
iTunes | Stitcher | Spreaker | Google Play Music
