For the first time in seven years, the United States has two athletes in the Junior World finals and the tournament has only just begun.
The semifinal round on Day 1 of the 2024 U20 World Championships began at 6:00pm local time from Pontevedra, Spain and streamed live in the US on FLOWrestling.
Both Isaiah Cortez (55 kg, Daniel Cormier WC) and Otto Black (63 kg, CTT) had their share of contentious moments during the morning session as the duo had been tested by what was, of course, top-quality opposition. Cortez was forced to come from behind in each of his three Session I victories whilst Black himself was trailing in his semifinal bout before ultimately pulling out a clutch decision win. Neither American were challenged in quite the same way once a trip to the World finals was at stake.
Aibek Aitbekov (KAZ) had a crisp try at an arm throw attempt that almost incited a scoring scramble from Cortez but the action stalemated for a restart. Not long after, Aitbekov was determined to be passive, thus providing Cortez with an opportunity from top par terre. Up 1-0, Cortez locked a trapped-arm gutwrench and managed to turn Aitbekov the requisite number of times to secure a 9-0 stoppage as well as his first trip to World final. With gold on the line tomorrow evening, Cortez will face Ali Ahmadi Vafa of Iran.
Black surrendered an early takedown to Yurik Hoveyan (ARM) — and then made him pay for it. Black reversed position in haste and quickly converted a gutwrench to jump ahead 3-2. The score remained unchanged all the up until the match’s conclusive moments. Hovyan, clearly in desperation mode, attempted to leap over Black for a “Flying Squirrel”. Black saw it coming and hoisted his antagonist in the air and dropped him in danger to score four points. Only a few seconds hung on the clock after the action was completed and Black had earned for himself a spot in the 63 kg finals opposite ’24 U20 Euro champ Erzu Zakriev (AIN).
Prior to this year, the last time Team USA had two Junior (U20) World finalists was in ’17, when Cevion Severado wound up with silver and Kamal Bey (77 kg, Army/WCAP) captured gold.
Two from US in Repechage
Aydin Rix-McElhinney (77 kg, Northern Colorado WC) had been defeated by returning U20 World champ Alireza Abdevali (IRI) in the round-of-16. Abdevali won his next two bouts — over Karl Baff (SWE) and Tornike Mikeladze (GEO), respectively) — to pull the American back into the tournament for Tuesday’s repechage round. Rix-McElhinney will greet Jixin Yu (CHN) first; if successful, he will then face Baff, and then Mikeladze for bronze.
It was a tough first match for ’22 U20 World bronze Aden Attao (130 kg, NYAC/Beaver Dam RTC), who was downed by Hungarian Laszlo Darabos. But — Darabos advanced to the final round, which means that Attao will have the chance to start a new journey on Tuesday that he hopes ends with his second-career U20 bronze. In the first repechage round, Attao will lock up with Ethan Vergara (PUR); if he wins, he would then have Cemal Bakir (TUR); in the bronze round awaits Aleksandr Melekhov (AIN).
Day 2
Five more Americans will take the mat for the first time on Tuesday. Three of the five will start in their respective brackets’ qualification rounds.
60 kg: Cory Land (Ironclad WC)
vs. Ilias Zairakis (GRE) — qualification round
67 kg: Joel Adams (TBW)
vs. Imed Khudzhadze (UKR) — qualification round
72 kg: Patrick Brackett (Mile High WC)
vs. Hubert Sidoruk (POL) — qualification round
82 kg: Arian Khosravy (CA)
vs. the winner between Antonio Lukac (CRO) and Jesper Haerkaenen (FIN) — round-of-16
97 kg: Soren Herzog (Air Force RTC)
vs. Bekzhan Zhumabekov (KGZ) — round-of-16
Rix-McElhinney and Attao will both compete in the repechage round during the same morning session.
77 kg: Aydin Rix-McElhinney (Northern Colorado WC)
vs. Jixin Yu (CHN) — repechage
130 kg: Aden Attao (NYAC/Beaver Dam RTC)
vs. Ethan Vergara (PUR) — repechage
Remaining U20 Worlds Schedule
*All times +6 hrs ET
*FLOWrestling will carry the live broadcast for US audience
Tuesday, September 3
10:00am-3:00pm — Qualification rounds through quarterfinals
10:00am-3:00pm — Repechage (Day 1 weights)
4:45pm-5:45pm — Semifinals
6:00pm-8:30pm — Finals & bronze matches (Day 1 weights)
Wednesday, September 4
10:00am-3:00pm — Repechage (Day 2 weights)
6:00pm-8:30pm — Finals & bronze matches (Day 2 weights)
2024 U20 World Championships
September 2-4 — Pontevedra, Spain
TEAM USA DAY 1 RESULTS
55 kg: Isaiah Cortez (Daniel Cormier WC)
WON Anil Mor (IND) 9-8
WON Peter Totok (HUN) 7-4
WON Maxim Sarmanov (MDA) 9-6
WON Aibek Aitbekov (KAZ) 9-0, TF
63 kg: Otto Black (CTT)
WON Dejan Berkec (SRB) 5-1
WON Enes Ulku (TUR) 7-6
WON Yurik Hoveyan (ARM) 7-2
77 kg: Aydin Rix-McElhinney (Northern Colorado WC)
LOSS Alireza Abdevali (IRI) 7-3
87 kg: Ryder Rogotzke (Ohio RTC)
LOSS Patrik Gordan (ROU) 8-0, TF
130 kg: Aden Attao (NYAC/Beaver Dam RTC)
LOSS Laszlo Darabos (HUN) 9-0, TF
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