Black and Sancho Advance to Saturday's Repechage

Friday at the 2025 World Championships was the first full day of Greco-Roman-only competition. The American squad did not have any medalists, though Kamal Bey battled back valiantly through repechage and two others are alive in repechage tomorrow.

Bey got the day started on a good note with an 11-2 victory over Mateusz Bernatek of Poland. The pair exchanged one-point scores in the first period and Bey led 2-2 on criteria heading into the second. Bey blew the match open in the second with a duck under to a body lock for a takedown, and then, immediately into a gut wrench for a 6-2 lead.

Later in the second period, Bey was able to get another takedown from a duck under, this time as Bernatek was pushing forward strongly. During the final seconds of the bout, the Polish wrestler was cautioned for leading too aggressively with his shoulder, which brought the final score to 10-2.

In his second repechage match, Bey took on 2024 World bronze medalist Ahmet Yilmaz of Turkiye. Bey took the early lead with a duck to a body lock for a takedown just 16 seconds into the bout. Yilmaz worked his way back with two one-point scores from a step out and passivity. The first period ended 2-2 with Bey in the lead.

Like the first period, Yilmaz added to his lead with a point from a step out, followed by a passivity call. Trailing 4-2 with under :30 seconds remaining in the contest, Bey went for his bread-and-butter duck to a body lock and was given a takedown, which put him ahead 4-4 on criteria. The Turkish corner challenged the ruling and, after a review, it was deemed that Bey committed a leg foul. The score was reset to 4-2 and Bey was unable to score despite a frantic pace to close the bout.

On Saturday, the final three members of the Greco-Roman squad will start their tournaments. Ellis Coleman (63 kg), Alston Nutter (67 kg), and Payton Jacobson (87 kg) will hit the mat.

In addition, Max Black (60 kg) and Alex Sancho (72 kg) will both compete in repechage. Each will need to win two matches in order to advance to a bronze medal match.