Rademacher and Duke Win U20 World Titles; Two More in Tuesday's Finals

The first set of medals were awarded on Monday at the U20 World Championships and the American men’s freestyle team claimed hardware in three of four weight classes. Two of those medals were of the gold variety. PJ Duke (70 kg) and Justin Rademacher (97 kg) both won gold medals at their respective weights. Each is now a two-time U20 world medalist. Both earned bronze medals at this tournament in 2024. Cole Mirasola  also got into the mix with a bronze medal at 125 kg.

In addition to the wrestlers who completed their tournaments on Monday, there were four others who started this morning. From that group, Luke Stanich (65 kg) and Will Henckel (79 kg) locked up a world medal after advancing to Tuesday's finals. We’ll find out tomorrow what color their medals will be. In addition, Connor Mirasola will wrestle for the bronze.

Duke took the mat first in the finals and had to contend with a stingy Aleksandr Gaidarli of Moldova. In the first period, the only points awarded were to the American as a result of a shot clock violation from Gaidarli. Duke put some distance between himself and Gaidarli in the second period as he got a takedown and, after a restart, exposure points from a scramble to lead 5-1.

Gaidarli briefly took the lead after a high-crotch to a double, followed by a gut wrench. The two pairs of two points knotted the match at five, but gave the Moldovan a lead on criteria. That lead only lasted for about :30 seconds, as Duke hustled to put himself in position to grab a single leg and converted the takedown at the edge. For the last :49 seconds of the bout, Duke was able to nullify any attacks that Gaidarli could muster and took the bout, 7-5.

In the second gold medal matchup featuring an American, Oregon State’s Justin Rademacher squared off with Russian Magomedgadzhi Magomedov. Rademacher struck early in the first period with a four-pointer that ended up being the difference in the match. The American got in on a single leg, initially tried to switch to a double and then tried for an elevated finish. Rademacher didn’t get the air that he intended on; however, he drove Magomedov out of the circle and onto his back for four points.

Magomedov was able to manage a step out point in the second period, but that was the extent of the scoring for either wrestler.

Rademacher’s win gave the United States a 2-0 record in gold medal matches thus far in the tournament.

A pair of Americans will try to run that record to 4-0 tomorrow as Stanich and Henckel are slated to wrestle for gold.

Stanich made the semifinals after edging fellow New Jersey native (wrestling for Italy) Alex Nini, 3-3. In the semifinals, a throw-by to an ankle was responsible for the only takedown of the contest and a 3-1 win over Russia’s Amal Dzhandubaev.

In the 79 kg semifinals, a late first-period burst that included five points was responsible for pushing Henckel past India’s Amit, 5-4.

The anchor of the US lineup, Cole Mirasola, was able to earn his bronze medal after a first-period tech fall over Mongolian Narantulga Darmaabazar. After Mirasola locked up his second takedown of the match, he was able to expose Darmaabazar three times with a leg lace to end the match at 12-2.

At 74 kg, Ladarion Lockett won a pair of repechage matches and earned a place in a bronze medal match against Japan’s Kanata Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi struck early with a takedown and quickly ended the bout with a series of exposures from a leg lace.

The 57 kg representative, Anthony Knox, earned a win in the qualification round; however, he was downed by Kazakhstan’s Nurdant Aitanov, 14-3 in the Round of 16. Aitanov ended up losing in the semifinals, which eliminated Knox from medal contention. 

 

57 kg

Round of 32: Anthony Knox over Mykola Bratov (Ukraine)  11-0

Round of 16: Nurdanat Aitanov (Kazakhstan) over Anthony Knox  14-3
 

65 kg

Round of 32: Luke Stanich over Abdullah Toprak (Turkiye)  18-8

Round of 16: Luke Stanich over over Omurbek Asan Uulu (Kyrgyzstan)  9-3

Quarterfinals: Luke Stanich over Alex Nini (Italy)  3-3

Semifinals: Luke Stanich over Amal Dzhandubaev (Russia)  3-1

Gold Medal Matchup: Luke Stanich vs. Reiji Uchida (Japan)
 

70 kg

Gold Medal Match: PJ Duke over Alexandr Gaidarli (Moldova)  7-5
 

74 kg

Repechage #1: Ladarion Lockett over Vatan Annaorazov (Turkmenistan)  10-0

Repechage #2: Ladarion Lockett over Manuel Wagin (Germany)  8-5

Bronze Medal Match: Kanata Yamaguchi (Japan) over Ladarion Lockett  10-0 
 

79 kg

Round of 32: Will Henckel over Maksat Tabyldyev (Kyrgyzstan)  8-5

Round of 16: Will Henckel over Bohdan Oleksiienklo (Ukraine)  10-0

Quarterfinals: Will Henckel over Davit Tchetchelashvili (Georgia)  11-5

Semifinals: Will Henckel over Amit (India)  5-4

Gold Medal Matchup: Will Henckel vs. Mahdi Yousefihajivar (Iran)  
 

92 kg

Round of 32: Connor Mirasola over Zixu Yuan (China)  10-0

Round of 16: Kamil Kurugliyev (Kazakhstan) over Connor Mirasola  7-5

Repechage Matchup: Connor Mirasola vs. Teimuraz Kochkiani (Georgia)

97 kg

Gold Medal Match: Justin Rademacher over Magomedgadzhi Magomedov (Russia)  4-1
 

125 kg

Bronze Medal Match: Cole Mirasola (USA) over Narantulga Darmaabazar (Mongolia)  12-2
 

Final Medal Round Results

70 kg

Gold Medal Match: PJ Duke (USA) over Alexandr Gaidarli (Moldova)  7-5

Bronze Medal Match: Ebrahim Elahichouran (Iran) over Abdoullah Nakaev (France)  6-4

Bronze Medal Match: Nurlan Aghazada (Azerbaijan) over Goga Otinashivili (Georgia)  4-0
 

74 kg

Gold Medal Match: Ismail Khaniev (Russia) over Adilet Akylbekov (Kyrgyzstan)  11-0

Bronze Medal Match: Kanata Yamaguchi (Japan) over Ladarion Lockett (USA) 10-0 

Bronze Medal Match: Dosszhan Kul Gaiyp (Kazakhstan) over Raul Caso (Italy)  6-3
 

97 kg

Gold Medal Match: Justin Rademacher (USA) over Magomedgadzhi Magomedov (Russia)  4-1

Bronze Medal Match: Samir Dursanov (Kazakhstan) over Vishal (India)  Fall 1:22

Bronze Medal Match: Konstantine Petriashvili (Georgia) over Ibrahim Benekli (Turkiye)  8-3
 

125 kg

Gold Medal Match: Yedige Kassimbek (Kazakhstan) over Abolfazl Mohammad Nezhad (Iran)  4-1

Bronze Medal Match: Cole Mirasola (USA) over Narantulga Darmaabazar (Mongolia)  12-2

Bronze Medal Match: Yusif Dursunov (Azerbaijan) over Levan Lagvilava (France)  3-1
 

Tuesday’s Gold Medal Matchups

57 kg: Magomed Ozdamirov (Russia) vs. Sumit Malik (India)

65 kg: Luke Stanich (USA) vs. Reiji Uchida (Japan)

79 kg: Will Henckel (USA) vs. Mahdi Yousefihajivar (Iran) 

92 kg: Kamil Kurugliev (Kazakhstan) vs. Sherzod Poyonov (Uzbekistan)