Even when staring at a sizable deficit in the biggest moment of his wrestling life thus far, Rylen Wax (45 kg, Beast Mode) exhibited a demeanor that suggested it was all just a matter of time before the dynamic of the match would change. And when change indeed occurred, it did so in a hurry.
The finals on Day 3 of the U17 World Championships began at 6:00pm local time from Baku, Azerbaijan (10:00am ET) and streamed live in the US on FLOWrestling.
Following a first day of action during which he earned three victories over stout opposition, Wax on Wednesday had to contend with Ali Javadli of host country Azerbaijan, who had grabbed gold earlier this year at the (U17) European Championships. The skilled Azer was gifted the bout’s first passivity/par terre chance and locked an elbow-to-elbow gutwrench that yielded two turns for four points, translating to a 5-0 lead. With U17 periods a minute shorter than those of the older age groups, Wax’s disadvantage on the scoreboard seemed especially significant.
But Wax came out for Period 2 poised and energetic as he pursued meaningful tie-ups. Javadli little choice other than to go on his heels and, in relatively short order, the officials rung him up for passivity, thus providing to Wax an opportunity to score.
He made the most of it.
Wax briefly hooked and barred Javadli’s left arm; he then gathered a tight lock in the form of a trap-arm gutwrench and rolled — and re-rolled — Javadli the requisite number of times to force the officials to stop the match at 13-5. Upon clinching the title, Wax flexed and raised his arms in celebration, much to the delight of the American fans in attendance.
William Etu (92 kg, Wild Buffalo WC) — whose father Josh was a Cadet Greco World champ in ’97 — was back on the mat for the repechage round(s) on Wednesday. Etu had pinned Polykarpos Servetas (GRE) yesterday before falling to Hiib Yevsieiev (UKR). Amirreza Mehritalarposhti of Iran emerged as his opponent repechage, and it was a match that went to the Iranian by way of decision.
Notes:
- Wax is now the fifth American to win a Cadet/U17 Greco-Roman World title since, as mentioned, Josh Etu did in ’97. The others are Jayden Raney (’24), Jordyn Raney (’23), and current Senior World Team members Joel Adams (77 kg, Beaver Dam RTC, ’22) and Cohlton Schultz (130 kg, Atreus WC, ’17).
- The US exits the 2026 U17 Worlds with two medalists — Wax (gold) and Bruno Pallone (110 kg, Merdin WC, silver). ’26 is the third consecutive year in which Team USA has had at least two medalists, and it is the fourth time in six years this has been the case. In ’22, Adams earned gold and Cody Merrill earned bronze; in ’24, Jayden Raney came away with gold as his twin brother Jordyn grabbed bronze; and last year, MJ Rundell, Arseni Kikiniou, and David Calkins Jr. each earned bronze.
- The US finished 6th in the team race behind Ukraine. Both countries ended with 79 points but UKR had three medalists whereas the US had two. Russia won the tournament with 127 points, Azerbaijan finished 2nd (107), and Iran came in 3rd (96).
- The combined individual record for Team USA in Baku was 16-13. Six wins were recorded as pins, six were technical falls, and four were decisions.
2926 U17 World Championships
July 27-29 — Baku, AZE
TEAM USA RESULTS
45 kg: Rylen Wax (Beast Mode) — GOLD
WON Vazgen Vardanyan (ARM) 4-1
WON Arsan Aliev (RUS) 11-2, TF
WON Afruzbek Ibragimov (UZB) 3-1
WON Ali Javadli (AZE) 13-5, TF
48 kg: Arav Pandey (American Dream WC) — 7th
WON Mustafa Karakose (TUR) via fall
LOSS Soltan Iusupov (RUS) 9-3
LOSS Giorgi Chhikvadze (GEO) 6-3
51 kg: Wyatt Danneger (Team MO) — 13th
LOSS Vadim Tarelunga (MDA) 9-4
55 kg: Corey Brown (HeadHunters WC) — 8th
WON Abdullah Ahmed (EGY) 7-5
LOSS Keve Kovacs (HUN) 5-1
WON Lavozier Marubo (BRA) via fall
LOSS Vlad Trip (ROU) 3-1
60 kg: Cooper Matthews (Black Fox) — 9th
WON Artush Petrosyan (ARM) 12-4, TF
LOSS Hinata Hanamori (JPN) 9-4
65 kg: Arseni Kikiniou (Poway) — 21st
LOSS Kunal Dagar (IND) 6-1
71 kg: Aiden Arnett (Izzy Style) — 16th
WON Albert Deacu (ROU) 7-2
LOSS Baiel Nuraliev (KGZ) 8-0m TF
80 kg: Ivan Ivanov (Suples) — 5th
LOSS Alireza Rezaei (IRI) 9-0, TF
WON Nurluutan Kubatov (KGZ) 9-0, TF
WON Ilias Gadaboeshev (RUS) via fall
LOSS Abdulaziz Khlmirzaev (UZB) 12-4, TF
92 kg: William Etu (Wild Buffalo WC) — 8th
WON Polykarpos Servetas (GRE) via fall
LOSS Hiib Yevsieiev (UKR) via fall
LOSS Amirreza Mehritalarposhti (IRI) 3-1
110 kg: Bruno Pallone (Hardin WC) –– SILVER
WON Mitsuyoshi Urushima (JPN) via fall
WON Yahor Savich (BLR) 18-9, TF
WON Khachik Khachatryan (ARM) 8-0, TF
WON Andrej Simic (SRB) via fall
LOSS Tymofii Prykhodko (UKR) 14-5, TF
