The first day for Team USA in Sundsvall was a very productive one.
Day 1 of the 2025 Sundsvall Wrestling Open began at 10:00am local time from Sundsvall, Sweden and streamed live on YouTube.
Led by head coach Stevie Gee, the Community Youth Center (Concord, CA), the longtime flagship program for Greco-Roman on the West Coast, had five U15 wrestlers in action on Saturday and, heading into tomorrow, all five are in the medal hunt. Meanwhile, in an amalgamated age division consisting of both U20 and U23 competitors, athletes from Northern Michigan’s National Training Site and Combat WC (WI) have gotten off to a similarly strong start. NMU already claims a gold with Gabriel Brown (60 kg) having went 2-0 in his round round-robin bracket whereas Mason Parsons (87 kg) finished with bronze. Combined, Northern and Combat have six entrants who are in position to depart from the tournament tomorrow with medals.
CYC
Siblings Timur (34 kg) and Harris Nurakhunov (48 kg) are two of the CYC representatives who will enter Day 2 with opportunities to potentially advance into the medal rounds. Timur Nurakhunov had himself two high-scoring bouts on Saturday, winning the first with a wide VSU over Willie Wermelin (SWE, 16-4) before falling to Charlie Wolfgang (SWE) 15-6. In Round 3, the Californian will face Colin Van Beetzen (SWE). Harris blitzed his two antagonists today. He downed Vilgot Gerzen (SWE) and Rafael Kopman (SWE) — outscoring both by a combined margin of 26-0.
At 41 kg, Sam Briggs pinned Arien Ahmadi Hajokosh (SWE) and starched Melvin Svarling (SWE) via VSU. Briggs will do battle with Abduallah Azrak (SWE) in the third round. Lincoln Miller (52 kg) was defeated by Mikhael Lebid of Sweden in his opener but will have a shot to rebound when action resumes on Sunday against Ekrem Yarar (NOR).
The “heaviest” young CYC Greco athlete in the tournament is Christian Arvizu at 57 kg. Arvizu is 2-0 at Sundsvall thus far with with victories over Matias Lissantti (SWE) and Edvin Nordin (SWE), respectively.
Combat & NMU
The aforementioned Brown was dominant en-route to gold in Sundsvall as he cut right through Otto Huutanen (FIN) 8-0 and decimated Zet Fink (SWE) 10-1. The gold for Brown and the bronze for Parsons are significant as both have now collected their first medals from an overseas event.
Amryn Nutter (63 kg, Combat WC) — younger brother of NMU grad Aidan and ’19 U20 World bronze Alston Nutter (Army/WCAP) — breezed past Matias Arpinen (FIN) and Leo Ljungvist (SWE), both via technical superiority. Last year, Nutter had edged Ljungvist on criteria, thereby rendering his lopsided rematch today as quite the improvement on the scoreboard. In his first match on Sunday, Nutter will have experienced Finnish wrestler Lauri Perkka. Nutter was defeated by Perkka (2-2 criteria) this past November at the VVV Cup.
NMU’s Gunnar Hamre (67 kg) likewise has unfinished business with which to deal on Sunday — and it is all set up thanks to his good work on Saturday. Hamre has already recorded three wins in Sundsvall, with all three being stoppages. He rolled up Max Siirila (SWE), Albin Jonsson (SWE), and Sergio Ilies (SWE) to firmly put himself in the medal chase. On Sunday, he, too, will start with an athlete to whom he had fallen previously — Tuuka Peltogkangas (FIN). Peltokangas clipped Hamre in the opening round of the International MYHI Tournament in Finland before the latter bounced back to finish with bronze.
The 77 kg tandem from Combat of Ashton Miess and Will Scherer are also unsurprisingly in the mix at Sundsvall. Miess defeated Calle Zetterkvist (SWE) by way of 9-0 technical superiority, and Scherer disposed of Joel Skoggvist (SWE) 8-0. Miess and Scherer are not in the same pools, meaning they will not face one another unless in a medal round.
Michael Higgins (82 kg, NMU/NTS) had a tough draw and was downed in his two matches on Saturday, having been defeated by multi-time Nordic Championships medalist Santeri Karppinen (FIN) and Elmer Capelle (SWE).
In the same weight class, Combat’s top upper-weight prospect Aidan Squier was on the wrong side of a 9-5 decision to seasoned competitor Veeti Kajanne of Finland. But that was only Round 1. Squier will head back to work in the morning, first against Sebastian Abrant (FIN) as he looks to keep his string of medal-winning performances overseas intact.
To tie it all together, NMU’s Jayden Tadeo-Gosal (97 kg) — who originates from CYC’s Greco program — went 1-1 on Saturday and is alive and well for a possible medal chance tomorrow. Tadeo-Gosal flattened Abdolla Akaev (SWE) in Round 1 but was defeated by Aapo Viitala (FIN) in his next match. In Round 3, Tadeo-Gosal will see Joel Andersson of Sweden.
“I’d say that the first day of competition went pretty well,” said NMU/NTS assistant coach Parker Betts after Day 1 wrapped in Sundsvall. “There are always up’s and down’s. Every guy who wrestled showed that they are improving from their last competition, but there are things we have to fix. Our team showed up today and came away with a lot of wins, and that’s always a great feeling as a coach and as an athlete. I’m proud of how these guys handled themselves and their overall positivity is infectious.”
Wrestling resumes on Sunday at 10:00am (4:00am ET) and can be viewed live on the Sundsvall Wrestling Club’s YouTube channel.
2025 Sundsvall Wrestling Open
January 25-26 — Sundsvall, SWE
TEAM USA DAY 1 RESULTS
U15
34 kg: Timur Nurakhunov (CYC)
WON Willie Wermelin (SWE) 16-4, TF
LOSS Charlie Wolfgang (SWE) 15-6, TF
vs. Colin Van Beetzen (SWE)
41 kg: Sam Briggs (CYC)
WON Arien Ahmadi Hajikosh (SWE) via fall
WON Melvin Svarling (SWE) 24-12, TF
vs. Abduallah Azrak (SWE)
48 kg: Harris Nurakhunov (CYC)
WON Vilgot Gerzen (SWE) 14-0, TF
WON Rafael Kopman (SWE) 12-0, TF
(Rd. 3 opponent TBD)
52 kg: Lincoln Miller (CYC)
LOSS Mikhael Lebid (SWE) via fall
vs. Ekrem Yarar (NOR)
57 kg: Christian Arvizu (CYC)
WON Matias Lissantti (SWE) 10-5
WON Edvin Nordin (SWE) 14-0, TF
vs. Viggo Petersen (SWE)
U20-U23
60 kg: Gabriel Brown (NMU/NTS) — GOLD
WON Otto Huuhtanen (FIN) 8-0, TF
WON Zet Flink (SWE) 10-1, TF
63 kg: Amryn Nutter (Combat WC)
WON Matias Arpinen (FIN) 9-0, TF
WON Leo Ljungvist (SWE) 11-1, TF
vs. Lauri Perkka (FIN)
67 kg: Gunnar Hamre (NMU/NTS)
WON Max Siirila (SWE) 8-0, TF
WON Albin Jonsson (SWE) 8-0, TF
WON Sergio Ilies (SWE) 9-0, TF
vs. Tuuka Peltokangas (FIN)
77 kg: Ashton Miess (Combat WC)
WON Calle Zetterkvist (SWE) 9-0, TF
vs. Vikke Tarrkio (FIN)
77 kg: Will Scherer (Combat WC)
WON Joel Skoggvist (SWE) 8-0, TF
vs. Miro Leinonen (FIN)
82 kg: Michael Higgins (NMU/NTS)
LOSS Santeri Karppinen (FIN) 8-0, TF
LOSS Elmer Capelle (SWE) 10-1, TF
82 kg: Aidan Squier (Combat WC)
LOSS Veeti Kajanne (FIN) 9-5
vs. Sebastian Abrant (FIN)
87 kg: Mason Parsons (NMU/NTS) — BRONZE
LOSS Johan Garbell (SWE) 13-10
LOSS Pauli Perkio (FIN) via fall
97 kg: Jayden Tadeo-Gosal (NMU/NTS)
WON Abdolla Akaev (SWE) via fall
LOSS Aapo Viitala (FIN) 8-0, TF
vs. Joel Andersson (SWE)
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