USA Greco

Porter Finishes 5th at 2026 Valamar Cup

By 5PM Staff

Posted on September 20, 2026

Jesse Porter -- Image: wrestlePorec YouTube

Jesse Porter (82 kg, NYAC) was close to earning his second overseas medal of the year but a difficult bronze match on Sunday did not go his way.

The second and last day of the 2026 Valamar Cup began at 10:00am local time from Porec, Croatia (4:00am ET) and streamed live on the wrestlePorec YouTube channel.

The US had three competitors in the tournament this morning following Dominic Damon‘s (67 kg, Outlaw WC) 5th-place showing on Saturday: Porter, Fritz Schierl (82 kg, Minnesota Storm), and two-time U23 National champ Keenan Wyatt (87 kg, Knights RTC).

First up for ’21 World Team member Porter was yet another in what has been a long line of matches against Schierl. The two have engaged in myriad clashes over the years, including this past spring at Thor Masters, which was a decision that went to Porter. On Sunday, Porter scored first when he deflected a Schierl attempt to ease around back for two. Not long after, Schierl was warned by the mat referee for chipping at the head — and the Storm rep wound up being penalized for a caution prior to the break, which provided to Porter a 4-0 lead. Schierl received the passivity/par terre chance in the second, but Porter countered Schierl’s try at a reverse lift to pick up two of his own. That maneuver capped the scoring and Porter moved on to the semifinal where he was defeated by well-decorated Hungarian Zoltan Levai.

With bronze on the line, Porter greeted young Vikke Tarkkio (FIN), who collected the match’s first points by converting a takedown. Tarkkio was next able to use a high lock and rotate one gut to put Porter behind by a score of 4-0. The opening perio’ds passivity/PT also benefited Tarkkio, though Porter did manage to defend from bottom. The officials favored Tarkkio once again in the second period and awarded him another passivity/PT. Porter did not yield a score whilst prone and returned standing with, naturally, a heightened sense of urgency. He used an array of feints to try and crack Tarkkio’s posture but ultimately had to settle for a step-out point at the buzzer en-route to a 6-1 decision loss. As alluded to in the intro, Porter was gunning for his second overseas medal of ’26 after having earned gold at Thor Masters (DEN) in March.

Wyatt

Wyatt tried to get his money’s worth in Valamar but was eliminated after his first and only match of the tournament. Wyatt locked up with Abdulmasih Abdulmasih (BLR) and fell behind 7-0 following the first period passivity/par terre, during which the Belarusian scored four from a lift and two more from a turn. Soon into the second period, Wyatt found double overhooks and attempted a salto — but Abdulmasih adjusted for a land-on-top four that ended matters prematurely. Abdulmasih was himself defeated by ’23 World champ David Losonczi (HUN) in the quarterfinal.