Lilledahl Wins U20 World Title; Three More in Sunday's Gold Medal Finals

The fun in men’s freestyle at the U20 World Championships continued on Saturday as the final five members of the team took the mat for the first time. Like the first five, they were perfect through the quarterfinals - this time going 13-0 and putting all five in the semis. 

Of course, that is too much of a start to continue through the semifinals, but the US team did manage to put three more wrestlers in Sunday’s gold medal matches (Ladarion Lockett - 74 kg, Josh Barr - 86 kg, and Ben Kueter - 125 kg). Those three combined with Friday’s results mean that half of the men’s freestyle team earned a berth in the U20 world finals. 

One of those wrestlers who earned a berth in the finals on Friday was Luke Lilledahl at 57 kg. The incoming freshman at Penn State locked up an age-group medal for the fourth consecutive year. Lilledahl followed the pattern from his U17 days, making the finals one year and winning the next. Lilledahl made the 2023 U20 finals and claimed the gold this time. 

Lilledahl’s gold medal came against a relatively familiar opponent, Russia’s Lev Pavlov. The two met in the Round of 32 at last year’s tournament and Lilledahl prevailed, 9-2. 

In this edition between the two, Lilledahl got on the board with a point from a shot clock violation on Pavlov. That accounted for the only scoring in the opening stanza. 

The match continued to be tactical in the second period as the roles were reversed and Pavlov earned a point from a shot clock violation on Lilledahl. Shortly thereafter, with criteria in his back pocket at the time, Pavlov was put on the shot clock for a second time. Lilledahl prevented him from scoring in the :30 seconds that followed resulting in a point for Lilledahl. 

The shot clock violations accounted for the only scoring in the contest. Lilledahl was able to keep Pavlov at bay during a final push in the closing moments of the bout. 

Lilledahl’s win marks the second time in three years that the American squad has produced a U20 world champion at 57 kg, as Jore Volk won gold in 2022. 

The other wrestler in the finals on Saturday was Lilledahl’s Penn State classmate Zach Ryder. Ryder could never solve the defensive riddle that was Turkmenistan’s Alp Begenjov. Ryder was close to earning a takedown and making things interesting in the second period. Still, Begenjov was able to prevent a potential Ryder score though his leg was elevated at the edge. 

Ryder has now won three age-group world medals with two U17 bronze medals and a silver this year at U20’s. 

The three wrestlers from Friday who lost in the semifinals and dropped down to bronze medal matches all got their hands raised on Saturday - winning bronze medals, Bo Bassett (65 kg), PJ Duke (70 kg), and Justin Rademacher (97 kg). 

Bassett only needed a portion of the first period to tally three takedowns and ten points against Georgia’s Nikoloz Beshidze. 

Duke fell in an early four-point hole to Kazakhstan’s Aikyn Bolatuly, but quickly made up for it…and more. He posted 13 straight points in the opening period to lead 13-7 at the break. In the second, Duke continued to pour it on and ended the match early with a tech, 18-7. There’s a good chance we see Duke on the 2025 team as he is just starting his final year of high school. 

Rademacher’s opponent, Nikolaos Karavanos (Greece), also didn’t make it to the second period. Rademacher continued to use stellar defense and timely re-attacks to systematically dismantle his Greek opponent. He’ll be a sophomore at Oregon State during the 2024-25 school year. 

The only returning U20 world champion for the United States is on track for title number two. Iowa two-sport star, Ben Kueter picked up where he left off in 2022 with a dominant run to the finals. Kueter needed less than :30 seconds to pin his Russian opponent in the quarterfinals before posting a 13-3 tech over Mongolia’s Nambardagva Batbayar in the semi’s. 

Tomorrow’s gold medal match at 125 kgs will be a massive showdown between the last two U20 champions, Kueter and Iran’s Amirreza Masoumi Valadi. Within the last year, Masoumi Valadi has beaten American’s Mason Parris and Christian Carroll, along with Olympic bronze medalist Giorgi Meshvildishvili (Azerbaijan). 

2023 U17 world champion, Ladarion Lockett, will try to go back-to-back at two different age groups as he’s made the 74 kg finals. The normally high-scoring Lockett had to grind out a semifinals win Saturday over Azerbaijan’s Aghanazar Novruzov. 

Lockett got the scoring started with a point from a shot clock violation and led 1-0 at the break. In the second, he added a point via a step-out, as he elevated a single leg and ran Novruzov out of bounds. After Novruzov earned a point from a shot-clock violation. The bout would end at 2-1; however, the Azerbaijani corner challenged the final seconds, presumably for Lockett not engaging; however, that ruling was confirmed. 

Lockett moves on to the finals against Iran’s Ali Rezaei Aghouzgeleh. That name might sound familiar to American fans as he was the opponent that defeated in last year’s 70 kg gold medal match, 11-6. 

The last finalist for the Americans is Penn State redshirt freshman Josh Barr. Barr posted three consecutive 10-0 first-period techs on his way to the finals. In tomorrow’s gold medal match, Barr will face a returning U20 world champion in Russia’s Ibragim Kadiev. Kadiev also had three techs to clinch a spot in the finals. 

Marcus Blaze (61 kg) and Connor Mirasola (92 kg) both fell in the semifinals and will wrestle in a bronze medal match.