On Tuesday, Michael Rundell Jr. (48 kg, The Wrestling Academy) and Arseni Kikiniou (65 kg, Poway) both earned bronze to give the US two medal winners from the Cadet Worlds for a second consecutive year. One day later, David Calkins Jr. (92 kg, Liberty HS) powered through two victories and now Team USA can claim three World medalists for the first time in the modern history of the tournament.
Day 3 of the 2025 U17 World Championships began at 10:30am local time from Athens, Greece (3:30pm ET) and streamed live on FLOWrestling.
Calkins, competing in his first World event, went 2-1 on Tuesday. He had started off in the qualification round with a resounding victory at the expense of Zong Wu (TPE) before getting past Andrija Mikulic (CRO) 3-1, thereby advancing to the quarterfinal. He was then on the wrong end of a tough but gripping 7-5 decision against eventual silver Kanstantsin Kasyan (ARM); because Kasyan made it to the bracket final, Calkins was pulled back into the tournament via repechage and made the most out of his second chance at a medal.
This morning, the Californian capitalized on the first passivity/par terre opportunity to rake Raphael Rodrigues Duarte (BRA) with gutwrenches en-route to a 9-0 VSU — which put him on the doorstep of the podium. The bronze-medal round then pitted Calkins against Ionut Patru of Moldova — who was certainly game, just outgunned.
Passivity was directed towards Moldova in the first period but Calkins could not negotiate a turn from top par terre. However, later in the period, Calkins flung Patru with an arm drag and immediately pursued the action by locking from behind and rolling a gutwrench to the edge. That made the score 3-0 and the American appeared in firm command of the proceedings, though there was still another period left to decide matters.
Still, the bout’s dynamics did not change. From the whistle, Calkins bruised Patru in an inadvertent clash, causing his own mouthpiece to tumble to the tarp. He picked it up and inserted the mouth guard back where it belonged, eager to resume pleasantries. It was almost as if the quick bump of noggins set the tone all over again; for when the referee signaled for the match to restart, Patru appeared to already be waning whereas Calkins was keen to continue making hard contact.
As the match wore on, suspense was limited to whether or not Calkins would be called passive. The general rhythm of governance in Greco-Roman competition is for passivity calls to be even unless it is apparent otherwise. Sure enough, the mat official was gesturing as a prelude for a halt in the action when Calkins took it out of the referee’s hands by forcing Patru off the edge for a step-out point.
Patru was in a difficult spot. Time was of short supply and his opponent maintained a solid activity level. Calkins was also the fresher fighter. Patru tried to let loose on several desperation attempts, but he was stonewalled each time. Calkins was just too sharp, strong, and well-conditioned to be compromised with the bout on the line, and his was a sparkling triumph that came attached to a World bronze medal, the United States’ third of the event.
2025 U17 WC Notes
— The United States finished with a combined individual record of 13-11 with four wins coming via technical superiority. One of the aforementioned Kikiniou’s wins was recorded by way of fall.
— The US finished in 10th place with 53 points, two points behind powerhouse Armenia and two points ahead of India. Iran placed 1st with 125 points followed by Uzbekistan (118) and Kazakhstan (113).
— Six of the ten USA competitors earned at least one win in the tournament. They are: Rundell, Will Detar (60 kg), Kikiniou, Isai Fernandez (80 kg), Calkins, and Alexander Taylor (110 kg).
— The US had at least three Cadet World medalists each year from the tournament’s inception in 1980 until 1992. The event was then discontinued from ’99 to 2011. It bears mentioning that the earliest editions of the Cadet World Championships were by comparison much more limited in participating countries. Calkins’ bronze on Wednesday thus gave the US three Cadet medalists for the first time since ’91 — and for the first time since the age group’s name was changed from Cadet to U17 in ’21.
— Last year, current Senior World Team member Jayden Raney (55 kg, NYAC) won the U17 World Championships while his twin brother Jordyn earned bronze; the year prior, Jordyn came away with gold at 55 kg.
— Team USA has now had at least one Cadet/U17 World medalist each year dating back to ’21.
2025 U17 World Championships
July 28-30 — Athens, GRE
TEAM USA FULL RESULTS
45 kg: Thales Silva (Izzy Style) — 10th
LOSS Abdurrahman Huseynli (AZE) 6-3
48 kg: MJ Rundell (The Wrestling Academy) — BRONZE
WON Artem Kolos (UKR) 10-0, TF
LOSS Nardaulet Kumaruly (KAZ) 8-0, TF
WON Gurban Majnunov (AZE) 7-3
WON Kaisei Yamamoto (JPN) 12-6
51 kg: Carter Shin (Palm Wrestling Academy) — 12th
LOSS Pavlos Tsentidis (GRE) 4-2
55 kg: Alexander Pierce (Big Game WC) — 13th
LOSS Nurali Askar (KAZ) 8-4
LOSS Lavozier Wadik Maruso (BRA) 4-3
60 kg: Will Detar (PA) — 15th
WON Vlad Duminica (MDA) 8-7
LOSS Humoyun Erkinov (UZB) 7-1
65 kg: Arseni Kikiniou (Poway) — BRONZE
LOSS Janes Nazaryan (ARM) 4-1
WON Huseyn Isgandarov (AZE) via fall
WON Kyliane Eddouh (FRA) 5-1
WON Yehor Tarasenko (UKR) 5-1
71 kg: Dominic Wilson (Ranger 47 WC) — 22nd
LOSS Vinit Vinit (IND) 5-1
80 kg: Isai Fernandez (TMWC) — 10th
WON Valentin Valentinov (BUL) 10-0, TF
LOSS Nurislam Oskonbaev (KGZ) 5-1
92 kg: David Calkins Jr. (Liberty HS) — BRONZE
WON Zong Wu (TPE)
WON Andrija Mikulic (CRO) 3-1
LOSS Kanstantsin Kasyan (UWW) 7-5
WON Raphael Rodrigues Duarte (BRA) 9-0, TF
WON Ionut Patru (ROU) 4-0
110 kg: Alexander Taylor (Beast Mode WC) — 9th
WON Essam Hussein (EGY) 10-1, TF
LOSS Denis Lazarov (BUL) 3-3 (criteria)
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