Tommy Brackett (82 kg, Tiger WC) is back in the winner’s circle and a comeback was required for arrival.
The second and final day of the 2026 Sundsvall Wrestling Open began at 10:00am local time from Sundsvall, Sweden (4:00am ET) and streamed live on the SAIK Brottning YouTube channel.
Brackett was one of two tournament champions for a United States team that had three medalists overall. On Saturday, Cameron Groncki (130 kg, Tiger WC) had clinched gold in his own round-robin division while today ’23 U20 World Team member Patrick Brackett (72 kg, Tiger WC) came away with bronze.
Tommy Brackett, the elder sibling, had closed out action yesterday with a 2-0 record and had therefore advanced to today’s final round against Toms Irklis of Latvia. It was a raucous affair that ultimately saw 21 combined points go up on the board, and which saw Brackett playing from behind for most of the match.
Irklis scored early in the first period by being granted four points from a throw, but Brackett answered with a step-out point and, after a reset, used a front headlock to spin behind for takedown points. Brackett trailed on criteria 4-4 in Period 2 and could not generate points from par terre top. Following another restart, Irklis was (curiously) credited with four points from a salto that put the American in a rather deep 8-4 hole.
But, with time ticking away, Brackett got to work by hustling in on a body attack that had Irklis on his heels and flopping off the boundary. That made the score 10-6. Then, another throw attempt from Irklis provided points in both directions while an apparent caution on Latvia updated the board to 10-10. Brackett would in short order manage to coax another step-out point to hold firm at 11-10, which represented the final score.
Daleiden, Kauffman, & Brackett
The aforementioned Patrick Brackett had put himself in position to medal by virtue of having defeated Liam Svensson (SWE) yesterday. This morning, Brackett finished strongly by decisioning Ayhan Korkmaz (SWE) 3-1 to grab bronze at 72 kg.
Both Michael Daleiden (71 kg, Combat WC) and ’25 U20 National runner-up Ned Kauffman (67 kg, Tiger WC) came very close to standing on their respective weight class’ podiums but wound up just short. Daleiden, the lone U17 competitor of the group, dropped a tight 3-2 decision to Sofus Sveen (SWE) and finished 4th. Kauffman won two matches on Sunday — he was first on his way to cleanly defeating Elian Hedbgerg (SWE) before the latter defaulted due to injury, and he then collapsed Leo Ljungvist (SWE) via fall. But in the bronze round, Kauffman was downed by Maksym Chuhuiev (UKR) 5-1 to exit the tournament in 4th place. On Saturday, newcomer Colton Steldt (67 kg, Combat WC) had his performance end after a loss to Chuhuiev, as well.
Training Next
Steldt and Daleiden will remain in Sundsvall throughout the week for a multinational training camp. The Brackett brothers along with Kauffman will also be training, except they are heading to Denmark. It has been quite the trip already for the trio, as they had previously attended a training camp in Romania prior to departing for Sundsvall.
2026 Sundsvall Open
January 16-17 — Sundsvall, SWE
TEAM USA RESULTS
U17
Michael Daleiden (Combat WC) — 4th
WON Devin Svarling (SWE) 5-0
LOSS Jack Svensson (SWE) 7-3
WON Charlie Askling (SWE) 8-0, TF
LOSS Sofus Sveen (SWE) 3-2
U20+
67 kg: Ned Kauffman (Tiger WC) — 4th
LOSS William Ekeroth (SWE) 8-0, TF
WON: Oscar Jansson (SWE) 8-0, TF
WON Elian Hedberg (SWE) via injury default
WON Leo Ljungvist (SWE) via fall
LOSS Maksym Chuhuiev (UKR) 5-1
67 kg: Colton Steldt (Combat WC) — 8th
LOSS Noah Johansen (NOR) 10-0, TF
LOSS Maksym Chuhuiev (UKR) 8-0, TF
72 kg: Patrick Brackett (Tiger WC) — BRONZE
LOSS Niklas Ohlen (SWE) 9-0, TF
WON Liam Svensson (SWE) 10-0, TF
WON Ayhan Korkmaz (SWE) 3-1
82 kg: Tommy Brackett (Tiger WC) — GOLD
WON Belous Artur (LAT) 8-0, TF
WON Oskar Nord-Jansson (SWE) 8-0, TF
WON Toms Irklis (LAT) 11-10
130 kg: Cameron Groncki (Tiger WC) — GOLD
WON Olle Almen (SWE) 10-0, TF
WON Olle Almen (SWE) via injury default
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