The tournament did not get much better for the United States on Monday, but they finally got another athlete with a second chance to earn a medal.
Day 3 of the 2026 World Championships began at 10:30am local time from Astana, Kazakhstan (1:30am ET) and streamed live in the US on FLOWrestling.
Scheduled to compete on Day 3 were ’24 U20 World silver/’25 U23 bronze Otto Black (NYAC, 67 kg) and ’24 U23 World silver Beka Melelashvili (87 kg, NYAC). Xavier Johnson (63 kg, Army/WCAP) was also slated for action until a medical issue just prior to the start of the event resulted in him having to miss out on a second World Championships appearance.
Black drew top young talent Aytjan Khalamakhanov (UZB), a Senior World gold in ’25 at just 20 years of age, and was defeated by a score of 12-1. Khalamakhanov did not stop with Black, however. In the next round, he pinned Tsuchika Shimoyamada (AUS); after that, he decisioned ’20 Olympic champ Luis Orta Sanchez (CUB) and followed in the semifinal with a 4-0 blanking over ’25 World bronze Slavik Galstyan (ARM). With Khalamakhanov having advanced to the finals, Black receives a berth in the repechage bracket, where he will first battle Shimoyamada. If successful, Black would then take on Orta Sanchez as Galstyan already awaits in the bronze round. Black has only one match on record against Shimoyamada, which was a VSU for the former Japanese star earlier this summer in Hungary.
Melelashvili
Melelashvili had a 3-2 lead late in the second period against ’20 Olympic bronze Ivan Huklek (CRO) and appeared well on his way to an opening-round win. Melelashvili had gone up on points thanks in large part to a front headlock that garnered two. But as the match was winding down, Huklek used an underhook off-balance to stunningly put Melelashvili on his back. The signal for the fall arrived soon after. Huklek was shut out 6-0 by ’19 World champ/’21 bronze in the following round to eliminate Melelashvili from the tournament.
Repechage for Black is scheduled for 10:30am local time (1:30am ET). The bronze medal round follows at 6:00pm (9:00am ET). FLOWrestling is carrying the live broadcast for the US audience (subscription required).
2026 World Championships
October 24-27 — Astana, KAZ
TEAM USA DAY 3 RESULTS
67 kg: Otto Black (NYAC)
LOSS Aytjan Khalamakhanov (UZB) 12-1, TF
vs. Tsuchika Shimoyamada (JPN) — repechage rd. 1
87 kg: Beka Melelashvili (NYAC)
LOSS Ivan Huklek (CRO) via fall
TEAM USA FULL RESULTS
55 kg: Max Nowry (NYAC/IRTC) — 11th
WON Nazarmamad Rakhmonbekov (TJK) 11-2, TF
LOSS Payam Ahmadi Balootaki (IRI) 10-1, TF
LOSS Lalit Lalit (IND) 7-0
60 kg: Dalton Roberts (Army/WCAP) — 20th
LOSS Ramzan Arnaut (ROU) 9-0, TF
72 kg: Benji Peak (NYAC/Position) — 11th
WON Aliaksandr Liavonchyk (BLR) 4-1
LOSS Mingiian Goriaev (RUS) 5-4
77 kg: Joel Adams (Beaver Dam RTC) — 23rd
LOSS Stoyan Kubatov (BUL) 3-1
82 kg: Kamal Bey (Army/WCAP) — 19th
LOSS Halishan Bahejiang (CHN) 4-2
97 kg: Timothy Young (Army/WCAP) — 16th
LOSS Matej Mandic (CRO) 4-3
130 kg: Cohlton Schultz (Atreus WC) — 17th
LOSS Abdelatif Mohamed (EGY) 1-1 (criteria)
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