A returning Britton Holmes (77 kg, Army/WCAP) was eliminated from competition after his first and only match on Friday while American teammate Payton Jacobson (87 kg, NYAC/NTS) will have to wait and see if another opportunity for a medal is still available.
Day 1 of Greco-Roman at the 2026 Muhamet Malo tournament began at 10:30am local time from Tirana, Albania (4:30am ET) and is streaming live in the US on FLOWrestling.
Holmes was defeated by the highly-skilled Kaharman Kissymetov (KAZ) in the qualification round; Kissymetov was himself turned back by Sergey Stepanov (RUS) in the round-of-16, which meant that Holmes would not become eligible to re-enter the tournament via repechage. On Friday, Holmes was competing in his first overseas tournament since the ’23 CISM Military World Games.
Jacobson made a big impact, literally and otherwise, on Poland’s Adam Gardziola in his first match of the morning. Passivity was levied on Gardziola and Jacobson took advantage of par terre by bombing a four-point lift off the edge. A 6-0 advantage followed the Northern Michigan representative into the second period and eventually an ill-advised throw attempt from Gardziola ignited the end sequence. Poland had engaged double-overhooks as a response to Jacobson’s double under’s and arched backward; and as Gardziola arched, Jacobson adjusted for a land-on-top and held position to gain the win via fall.
The quarterfinal did not offer the same type of outcome. Facing Russian Islam Aliev, Jacobson was put down in par terre first and Aliev capitalized with a four-point lift to go up 5-0. A passivity point was doled out to Jacobson in the second period but his attempts from top were not fruitful, and the decision eventually went to Aliev 5-1. Aliev will square off against ’19 World Champion/multi-time medalist Lasha Gobadze (GEO) in the semifinal where a win for the Russian would pull Jacobson into repechage against noted Azer and two-time U23 World bronze/’20 Olympian Islam Abbasov.
The semifinal round on Day 1 in Tirana is scheduled to begin at 2:30pm local time (8:30am ET) and can be viewed live in the US on FLOWrestling.
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