Wax and Tsarni Advance to U17 Men's Freestyle Finals

Action on Saturday at the 2026 U17 World Championships wrapped up with two Americans advancing to the gold-medal finals in men’s freestyle. Another member is in a bronze medal match tomorrow.

Earlier this week, Rylen Wax earned a U17 world title in Greco-Roman. Now, he’s looking to double up as he locked up a spot in tomorrow’s 45 kg gold medal match.

Wax’s most difficult match didn’t come in the semifinals - he cruised there with a 9-0 win, but the quarterfinals proved to be a bit more challenging. Leading Kazakhstan’s Aryn Zhanat 3-1 at the break, Wax was aggressive off the whistle and countered for four points by Zhanat, taking a 5-3 lead.

A step-out point for Wax closed the deficit to a single point. He would take the lead shortly thereafter with a takedown after a low single leg. Holding onto a one-point lead, Wax was able to fend off a dangerous leg attack from Zhanat and exposed the Kazakh wrestler for another two points and a three-point cushion. Zhanat got a reversal in the closing seconds, but couldn’t threaten any further, as Wax held on to win, 8-6.

Standing between Wax and another gold medal is Puerto Rico’s Nelson Villafane. Though Villafane represents Puerto Rico, he hails from Pennsylvania.

The second American to make the finals on Saturday was Salah Tsarni at 92 kg. Tsarni ripped through his bracket, defeating wrestler-after-wrestler from traditional powers. He downed opponents from Ukraine, Iran, Japan, and India. Not only did Tsarni get his hand raised four times, but he did so impressively. He posted three tech falls without surrendering a point and got a fall, as well.

Speaking of opponents from power countries, that theme continues in the gold medal match as Tsarni will square off with Russia’s Abdurazak Shabanov.

Also in the medal hunt is Camryn Howard at 71 kg. He notched a win in the opening round before falling to Iran’s Reza Shamsipourhajivand, 9-1. Howard will face Uzbekistan’s Jaloliddin Djalalov in the first round of repechage. He would need three wins to clinch a bronze medal.

Two American wrestlers from the first day of action took the mat and competed in bronze medal matches. Both Kooper Deputy (48 kg) and Chase Karenbauer (55 kg) were blanked in their bronze medal bout and finished in fifth place.

Tomorrow’s repechage and medal round matches will mark the conclusion of the 2026 U17 World Championships.

Saturday’s Results

Men’s Freestyle

45 kg

Round of 16: Rylen Wax over Hanumant Rajendra Jadhav (India)  14-3

Quarterfinals: Rylen Wax over Aryn Zhanat (Kazakhstan)  8-6

Semifinals: Rylen Wax over Mahdi Davoud Damercheli (Iran)  9-0

Gold Medal Match: Rylen Wax vs.Nelson Villafane (Puerto Rico)

48 kg

Repechage: Kooper Deputy over Huseyn Rzazade (Azerbaijan)  12-1

Gold Medal Match: Bakdaulet Agabek (Kazakhstan) over Aaryan (India)  10-0

Bronze Medal Match: Volodymyr Bolko (Ukraine) over Kooper Deputy  11-0

Bronze Medal Match: Farrukh Makhmudov (Uzbekistan) over Muslikhiddin Khodzhiev (Tajikistan)  Fall 1:16

51 kg

Round of 32: Said Nabiev (Tajikistan) over Evan Restivo  12-1

Gold Medal Matchup: Benyamin Ashofteh (Iran) vs. Ibrahim Hasanov (Azerbaijan)

55 kg

Gold Medal Match: Jovanni Tovar (Colombia) over Jakhongir Tulkunov (Uzbekistan)  11-0

Bronze Medal Match: Arman Elahichoran (Iran) over Davit Baleyan (Armenia)  5-2

Bronze Medal Match: Prathmesh Patil (India) over Chase Karenbauer (USA)  8-0

60 kg

Round of 16: Shota Fujiwara (Japan) over JoJo Burke  10-6

Gold Medal Matchup: Sergei Karmrian (Russia) vs. Sitender (India)

65 kg

Gold Medal Match: Magomed Ibragimov (Russia) over Shokhiddin Aliev (Uzbekistan)  Fall

Bronze Medal Match: Sam Arshadghasabsaraei (Iran) over Zamir Daniyar (Kazakhstan)  9-0

Bronze Medal Match: Jovani Solis (Puerto Rico) over Krishan (India)  Fall 3:57

71 kg

Round of 32: Camryn Howard over Gergo Both (Germany)  12-1

Round of 16: Reza Shamsipourhajivand (Iran) over Camryn Howard  8-1

Gold Medal Matchup: Reza Shamsipourhajivand (Iran) vs. Bohdan Kvantaliani (Georgia)  

80 kg

Gold Medal Match: Amirali Ferasati (Iran) over Zeteny Tugyi (Hungary)  10-0

Bronze Medal Match: Kantemir Elmesov (Russia) over Takahiro Hagino (Japan)  9-7

Bronze Medal Match: Volkan Bilgin (Turkiye) over Yassin Ezzat (Egypt)  11-1

 

92 kg

Round of 32: Salah Tsarni over Artem Zalvovskyi (Ukraine)  11-0

Round of 16: Salah Tsarni over Mohammad Reza Behrang (Iran)  Fall 3:49

Quarterfinals: Salah Tsarni over Shu Yoshida (Japan)  12-0

Semifinals: Salah Tsarni over Saksham Fnu (India)  11-0

Gold Medal Matchup:Salah Tsarni vs. Abdurazak Shabanov (Russia)

110 kg

Gold Medal Match: Magomed Omarov (Russia) over Amirhossein Esmali (Iran)  7-4

Bronze Medal Match: Arush Rana (India) over Sagyndyk Temirgaly (Kazakhstan)  9-1

Bronze Medal Match: Behruz Ashirov (Uzbekistan) over Murtaz Bagdavadze (Georgia)  3-2