The opening day of the tournament was a glum one for Team USA with the exception of Max Nowry‘s (55 kg, NYAC/IRTC) performance, as the 36-year-old won his first contest, dropped his second, and was pulled back in for Sunday’s repechage. But the second day’s group of athletes could not improve upon the results of the first group, leaving the Americans with only one more day to make an impact.
Day 2 of the 2026 World Championships began at 10:30am local time (1:30am ET) and streamed live in the US on FLOWrestling.
Nowry entered repechage on Sunday morning needing one win to reach the bronze-medal match. Three other US athletes were beginning their own treks in the tournament: Benji Peak (72 kg, NYAC/Position), Timothy Young (97 kg, Army/WCAP), and Cohlton Schultz (130 kg, Atreus WC). As Nowry was the lone competitor on Saturday to earn an individual victory, such was Peak on Sunday. The difference is that Nowry received a second chance via repechage for today. Peak did not receive one for tomorrow.
Nowry
Saturday saw Nowry post a lopsided VSU over Nazarmamad Rakhmonbekov (TJK) before tasting defeat at the hands of returning World silver Payam Ahmadi Balootaki (IRI). Balootaki then prevailed in the semifinal round, thus giving Nowry another chance for a medal through the repechage bracket against Lalit Lalit (IND).
Lalit was the recipient of the first passivity/par terre and Nowry was defending his opponent’s attacks well, but Lalit did, towards the end of the opportunity, manage to tilt Nowry one time for two points and a 3-0 lead. In the second period, incredulously, Nowry was cited for passivity yet again, thus providing Lalit with another shot from top. This time, Nowry stymied the chance completely and the action returned standing. Not long after, Nowry felt for a righty headlock; Lalit’s head popped out, forcing Nowry prone. The action was ruled a takedown but the US corner challenged, contending it should have been called a slip. The officials did not overturn the original call and so Lalit carried a 7-0 lead that he would not relinquish, which ended Nowry’s time in the tournament.
Peak, Young, & Schultz
Peak secured a nice win in the opening round at 72 kilograms by getting past ’19 U23 World silver Aliaksandr Liavonchyk (BLR). It was the Belarusian who was out in front by a 1-0 (passive) margin heading into Period 2, which was when Peak made his mark. After Liavonchyk was put down in par terre, Peak achieved his lock and looked to elevate before waterfalling Liavonchyk over for two. Following a reset, Peak countered coming off of a skirmish to gain a step-out point to take command at 4-1. Liavonchyk failed to threaten the rest of the way and Peak moved on to the next round.
Standing across from Peak in the round-of-16 was Mingiian Goriaev (RUS), and this time it was Peak who was gifted the first passivity point. From top, the NMU alumnus managed to lift Goriaev and ultimately settle for taking the hold out of bounds for a point. That made the score 2-0 for Peak — until a challenge on his part claiming a leg foul from Goriaev was confirmed, thereby updating the score in his favor to 4-0. Peak’s subsequent attempt from top PT did not yield additional points.
Midway through the second period, the passives flipped and Goriaev seemingly struggled to budge Peak. However, a challenge from Goriaev was directed towards Peak for failing to clear. Peak was cautioned for two points, plus Goriaev had a second opportunity for a turn. Although Peak came oh-so-close to defending the follow-up try, Goriaev was still able to crank one rotation, which gave to him a 5-4 lead. Not much time remained on the clock. Peak made overtures on the feet, but could not make something happen, ultimately falling by way of a heartbreaking 4-3 decision. Goriaev was later derailed by Seyed Sohrabi (IRI) to eliminate Peak from a chance for bronze through repechage.
The performances for Young and Schultz ended in similar fashion.
Young & Schultz
Young, who started in the qualification round, faced off with stout Croatian upper-weight Matej Mandic and acquitted himself well. Mandic delivered a turn from top par terre, but Young swiveled his hips and floated to stop the momentum. Later in the first period, as Mandic was looking to collapse behind on a takedown attempt, Young countered beautifully for his own points to walk into the break leading on criteria 3-3. In Period 2, both wrestlers were jockeying near the boundary with Young close to recording another takedown; the problem was that he stepped out right before that, which gave Mandic another point and an outright 4-3 lead. Oddly, the officials swallowed the whistle when it came to passivity throughout the entirety of the second period. Young tried to prod and pressure his way to workable looks, but none were available, and Mandic took the 4-3 nod. The Croatian lost to Murad Ahmadiyev (AZE) in the next round to cap Young’s World Championships debut.
Timothy Young (red, top) looks to secure points against Matej Mandric (CRO) in the 97 kg qualification round at the 2026 World Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan. (Photo: Tony Rotundo)
A big-time match it was for Schultz, who greeted recent World bronze/two-time Olympian Abdelatif Mohamed (EGY). But because it was a “big-time match”, scoring was expected to be at a premium, and it certainly was in their affair. Schultz had an early look at a front headlock but the position failed to mature. Eventually, he would dinged for passive, only Mohamed was unsuccessful in finding a turn. Schultz was the beneficiary of the second-period passive call and quickly sought a front headlock. Abdelatif defended adequately and retained a 1-1 advantage that would hold up through the remainder. One round hence, Mohamed was on the losing end of a high-scoring battle against Pavel Hlinchuk (BLR), which meant that Schultz had been eliminated.
Day 3
UPDATE: In a severe blow to the US roster, Xavier Johnson (63 kg, Army/WCAP) will not be competing on Monday due to a medical issue that arose late in the week. This leaves only two athletes scheduled for Monday: ’25 U23 World bronze Otto Black (67 kg, NYAC) and ’24 U23 World silver Beka Melelashvili (87 kg, NYAC). Below are full results from the first two days of the 2026 World Championships along with draws for Black and Melelashvili. Wrestling once again picks back up at 10:30am local time from Astana (1:30am ET) and can be streamed live in the US on FLOWrestling.
2026 World Championships
October 24-27 — Astana, KAZ
TEAM USA DAY 2 RESULTS
72 kg: Benji Peak (NYAC/Position)
WON Aliaksandr Liavonchyk (BLR) 4-1
LOSS Mingiian Goriaev (RUS) 5-4
97 kg: Timothy Young (Army/WCAP)
LOSS Matej Mandic (CRO) 4-3
130 kg: Cohlton Schultz (Atreus WC)
LOSS Abdelatif Mohamed (EGY) 1-1 (criteria)
TEAM USA DAY 1 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
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
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