Black and Cortez Make U20 World Finals in Greco-Roman

Labor Day was not a day of rest for some of the best young wrestlers in the world as Monday marked the first day of competition at the U20 World Championships in Pontevedra, Spain. The focus, on the first day of action from Spain, was on Greco-Roman - as five of the ten Greco weights were conducted all the way to the finals. 

Day one was excellent from an American perspective, as a pair of US wrestlers advanced to Tuesday’s gold medal matches - Isaiah Cortez (55 kg) and Otto Black (63 kg). 

Cortez had to grind his way through his first three matches with close wins in each contest. After a one-point victory in the qualification round, Cortez posted three-point wins in the Round of 16 and the quarterfinals. His quarterfinal opponent, Maxim Sarmanov (Moldova) was a European U20 silver medalist earlier this year. 

In the semifinals, Cortez took care of business quickly and didn’t need to win any nailbiters. Facing Kazakhstan’s Aibek Aitbekov, Cortez got on the board early with a passivity point on his opponent. From the par terre position, Cortez took advantage and never looked back. He locked up a trapped-arm gut wrench and proceeded to take Aitbekov to expose his back and then the opposite direction, time and time again, until he ended the match with a 9-0 tech. 

Cortez will advance to tomorrow’s gold medal match and take on Iran’s Ali Ahmadi Vafa. Last year, Ahmadi Vafa fell in the bronze medal match in the U20 World Championships at this weight class. On his way to the semifinals, Ahmadi Vafa picked up a win over the American entry, Zach Silvis. Earlier this year, Ahmadi Vafa was a gold medalist at the Asian U20 Championships. 

Black needed a strong second-period rally in the quarterfinals, against Turkiye’s Enes Ulku, just to advance to the semi’s. Trailing 5-0, Ulku was called for passivity and Black was allowed to work from par terre. Black locked up a gut wrench and brought Ulku to his feet and tossed him for four points. A caution on Ulku gave the American an additional two points, a 7-5 lead, and another par terre restart. Quickly, Ulku reversed the position for a point and then brought Black to his feet for a throw attempt. Though Black landed on top of Ulku, the Turkish wrestler was given two points. Black’s corner challenged the ruling which ended up being overturned. 

The pair would resume action with :06 remaining in the match and Black was able to hold on for a 7-6 victory. 

In the semifinals, Black was paired with Armenia’s Yurik Hoveyan. Once again, Black would have to battle back from an early deficit as Hoveyan got a quick first-period takedown. After the takedown, Hoveyan was working for a gut wrench; however, Black stuffed the attempt and hopped over for a reversal. The American then locked up a gut of his own for a two-point exposure and a 3-2 lead. 

That’s how the score would look heading into the waning seconds of the bout. A desperate Hoveyan tried a half-hearted flying squirrel attempt and Black caught him and tossed him to the mat for four points and an exclamation point on a 7-2 victory. 

Black has locked up a medal and will wrestle for gold tomorrow against Erzu Zakriev who is a Russian but is competing under the AIN (Individual Neutral Athlete) designation. Zakriev was a gold medalist at the European U20 Championships this year and did not surrender a point during his title run. In that tournament, Zakriev earned wins over Hoveyan (7-0) and Ulku (9-0).

Black is a Class of 2024 graduate who has signed with the University of Iowa. Cortez is a high school senior who has committed to Cornell’s gigantic Class of 2025. 

This will be the first world medals of any sort for both wrestlers. Black did advance to the bronze medal match at the U17 level in 2021 but suffered a loss. 

Cortez and Black aren’t the only Americans wrestling for medals tomorrow, Aydin Rix McElhinney (77 kg) and Aden Attao (130 kg), both have been pulled back into tomorrow’s repechage. Attao was a U20 world bronze medalist in 2022 and was seventh in 2023. Both will need to win a pair of repechage matches just to advance to the bronze medal match. 

Ryder Rogotzke was the other American in action at 87 kg. Rogotzke was beaten in his first bout by Romania’s Patrik Gordan; however, Gordon was defeated in the semifinals - which crushed any repechage hopes for Rogotzke. 

With five more Greco-Roman weights starting on Tuesday, this tournament already has to be considered a success from an American standpoint. This will only be the second time that the United States has had multiple finalists in Junior/U20 Greco-Roman. The last time this occurred was in 2017 when Cevion Severado (50 kg) and Kamal Bey (74 kg) both wrestled for gold.