Duke and Rademacher Make Finals on Day One at the U20 World Championships

Sunday marked the first day of the 2025 U20 World Championships in Samokov, Bulgaria, and the action began in men’s freestyle. Four brackets got underway on Sunday and the American squad put wrestlers from half of those weights in the finals. PJ Duke at 70 kg and Justin Rademacher at 97 kg. Ladarion Lockett (74 kg) was pulled back into repechage and will have to win three matches on Monday to come away with a bronze medal. Cole Mirasola (125 kg) was defeated in the semifinals and will drop down into a bronze medal match.

The first semifinal pitted the Senior World Team member and 2024 U20 bronze medalist, Duke, against a former U17 world champion in Iran’s Ebrahim Elahichouran. The bout was generally a tactical affair with both wrestlers fighting to maintain control of the center of the mat. In the opening period, the official put Duke on the shot clock and he did not score, which gave a point to Elahichouran.

The point to the Iranian would loom large in the final result of the bout. Later in the first, the two were at the edge and Elahichouran looked poised to earn another point for a step out; however, Duke used an arm drag to go behind the Iranian for a two-point takedown.

The only scoring in the second period was from a step out point in favor of the Iranian. As the time ticked off the clock and Duke ahead on criteria (based on his two-point takedown, compared to two, one-point scores), neither wrestler was anxious to attack. Once the final whistle sounded, the Iranian thought that he won. He had not. Duke got the win via criteria. For the gold medal tomorrow, he’ll face Moldova’s Alexandr Gaidarli.

Two weight classes later, the US contingent got a second finalist with Rademacher’s win over Konstantine Petriashvili, younger brother of the legendary Georgian heavyweight, Geno. The younger Petriashvili hung with Rademacher through the first period and trailed 4-3 at the break. The American wore on Petriashvili in the second period and was able to pour it on. Rademacher added six takedowns in the final stanza to win by a dominating 16-5 score. He’ll tangle with Russian Magomedgadzhi Magomedov (wrestling for team UWW) in tomorrow’s gold medal contest.

Rademacher’s win guarantees he’ll leave this tournament with a medal for a second straight year.

Lockett won a match before falling to one of the co-favorites, Russian Ismail Khaniev. Khaniev was tested in the quarters and semifinals, but prevailed, pulling Lockett into repechage. Lockett is seeking his second consecutive U20 world medal.

Mirasola was unscored upon during his first two matches, but ran into a buzzsaw in Kazakhstan’s Yedige Kassimbek. The Penn State redshirt freshman actually got in deep on a pair of solid shots early in the contest, but didn’t seem to have the leverage to finish on the larger opponent. Kassimbek ended up converting both attempts into takedowns. He added more with leg laces and prevailed 11-0 in a first-period tech.

In addition to the wrestlers competing for medals tomorrow, the 57, 65, 79, and 92 kg weight classes will begin their tournaments.

Sunday's Results for American Wrestlers

70 kg 

Round of 32: PJ Duke over Umut Uslu (Turkiye)  11-0

Round of 16: PJ Duke over Gabriel Sanchez Zepeda (Mexico)  Fall :42

Quarterfinals: PJ Duke over Abdoullah Nakaev (France)  14-4

Semifinals: PJ Duke over Ebrahim Elahichouran (Iran)  2-2

Monday’s Gold Medal Match: PJ Duke vs. Alexandr Gaidarli (Moldova)
 

74 kg

Round of 32: Ladarion Lockett over Tolui Munkhbat (Mongolia)  10-0

Round of 16: Ismail Khaniev (Russia) over Ladarion Lockett  5-2

Monday’s Repechage: Ladarion Lockett vs. Vatan Annaorazov (Turkmenistan)
 

97 kg

Round of 16: Justin Rademacher over Ibrahim Benekli (Turkiye)  Fall 5:10

Quarterfinals: Justin Rademacher over Nikolaos Karavanos (Greece)  9-1

Semifinals: Justin Rademacher over Konstantine Petriashvili (Georgia)  16-5

Monday’s Gold Medal Match: Justin Rademacher vs. Magomedgadzhi Magomedov (Russia)
 

125 kg

Round of 16: Cole Mirasola over Sertac Aksoy (Turkiye)  10-0

Quarterfinals: Cole Mirasola over Inal Gagloev (Russia)  3-0

Semifinals: Yedige Kassimbek (Kazakhstan) over Cole Mirasola  11-0

Monday’s Bronze Medal Match: Cole Mirasola vs. TBD