Max Nowry (55 kg, NYAC/IRTC) will yet again compete on his weight class’ second day.
Day 1 of the 2026 World Championships began at 10:30am local time from Astana, Kazakhstan (1:30am ET) and streamed live on FLOWrestling.
Nowry was one of four Americans to take the mat on Saturday along with multi-time World Team members Dalton Roberts (60 kg, Army/WCAP) and Kamal Bey (82 kg, Army/WCAP), as well as ’22 U17 World gold Joel Adams (77 kg, Beaver Dam RTC). Roberts, Adams, and Bey were all defeated in their respective opening-round contests, though Adams was not officially eliminated from the tournament until his vanquisher (Stoyan Kubatov of Bulgaria) fell in the semifinals.
Nowry was the lone USA rep to earn a win this morning after raking Nazarmamad Rakhmonbekov (TJK) across the mat thanks to a series of trapped-arm gutwrenches. One round later, returning World silver Payam Ahmadi Balootaki (IRI) downed Nowry. The Iranian then added wins over Lalit Lalit (IND) and Ishka Kurbayev (KAZ) to make the bracket final, thereby “pulling” Nowry back into the tournament via repechage. In his first match on Sunday, Nowry will face Lalit; should Nowry prevail, he will then face Kurbayev for bronze.
Nowry, 36, is amid his fourth World Championships appearance. He advanced to bronze-medal rounds twice previously (’19 and ’22), both times finishing 5th. The Illinois native stepped away from competition following the ’22 World Championships but returned this past spring to win the World Team Trials. Nowry also earned his third Pan-American Championships gold in May.
Day 2 for USA
Three more US athletes will be suiting up in conjunction with Nowry on Sunday: Benji Peak (72 kg, NYAC/Position), Timothy Young (97 kg, Army/WCAP), and Cohlton Schultz (130 kg, Atreus WC). Peak opens against Aliaksandr Liavonchyk (BLR), Young greets Matej Mandic (CRO), and Schultz will tangle with the winner between ’23 World bronze/two-time Olympian Abdelatif Mohamed (EGY) and Artur Sarkisjan (CZE). Peak and Young start in the qualification rounds of their brackets while Schultz gets started in the round-of-16.
Wrestling resumes at 10:30am local time (1:30am ET) and will stream live in the US on FLOWrestling.
2026 World Championships
October 24-27 — Astana, KAZ
TEAM USA DAY 1 RESULTS
55 kg: Max Nowry (NYAC/IRTC)
WON Nazarmamad Rakhmonbekov (TJK) 11-2, TF
LOSS Payam Ahmadi Balootaki (IRI) 10-1, TF
60 kg: Dalton Roberts (Army/WCAP)
LOSS Ramzan Arnaut (ROU) 9-0, TF
77 kg: Joel Adams (Beaver Dam RTC)
LOSS Stoyan Kubatov (BUL) 3-1
82 kg: Kamal Bey (Army/WCAP)
LOSS Halishan Bahejiang (CHN)
TEAM USA DAY 2 DRAWS
55 kg: Max Nowry (NYAC/IRTC)
vs. Lalit Lalit (IND) — 55 kg repechage
72 kg: Benji Peak (NYAC/Position)
vs. Aliaksandr Liavonchyk (BLR) — qualification round
97 kg: Timothy Young (Army/WCAP)
vs. Matej Mandic (CRO) — qualification round
130 kg: Cohlton Schultz (Atreus WC)
vs. winner between Abdelatif Mohamed (EGY) and Artur Sarkisjan (CZE) — round-of-16
SUBSCRIBE TO THE FIVE POINT MOVE PODCAST
iTunes | Stitcher | Spreaker | Google Play Music
