McEnelly and Blaze Strike Gold as Team USA Wins U20 Men's Freestyle Title
The U20 men’s freestyle tournament concluded on Wednesday afternoon, and what a tournament it was! The American squad had mathematically locked up the team title on Tuesday after medals were won by Luke Stanich (gold), Will Henckel (silver), and Connor Mirasola (bronze). That was before the final set of medal round matches and two Americans in the finals - Marcus Blaze (61 kg) and Max McEnelly (86kg).
The two American men in gold medal matches won both of their matches, in dominant fashion, to give the USA half of the ten individual champions! Four champions were enough to set an American record; however, five was icing on the cake.
Blaze got the party started in his final against Iranian Ahora Khateri. From the outset, Blaze controlled the center of the match, the hand fights, and Khateri was never able to get to his offense. For this, Khateri was deemed passive and put on the shot clock. After he failed to score, Blaze was awarded the first point of the contest.
Throughout the match, Blaze was careful to never put himself in a vulnerable position and took what his opponent gave him. That led to five straight step out points and a 6-0 lead for the American in the second period. It wasn’t until under :40 remained in the contest before Blaze even registered his first takedown, but once he did, he also got a match-ending gut wrench for two points and a 10-0 victory.
Of Blaze’s five matches, four ended via tech fall and, in the other, his opponent was disqualified for three cautions.
This marks Blaze’s second world title - he won a U17 belt back in 2023. It’s also the second time that he’s earned a medal at the U20 World Championships. He was a silver medalist last year.
A few minutes after Blaze helped Team USA establish a new U20 record with four titles, McEnelly helped extend that record to five in his win over Russia’s Bozigit Islamgereev.
The first period saw McEnelly satisfied with a 2-0 lead after a shot clock violation on Islamgereev and a step out. Twice in the opening period, McEnelly got in deep on shots, but wasn’t able to convert for two points. Constant pressure and movement in the second period opened the door for McEnelley to expand his offense. He rattled off three takedowns in the final period to seal the deal.
Holding a 6-0 lead, Islamgereev must have assumed McEnelly would be content to coast to the finish line. That wasn’t the case as McEnelly continued to pour it on and used a well-timed low leg attack for his third and final takedown. Unable to turn the Russian and seeing :14 seconds on the clock, the normally stoic McEnelly broke out in a smile and head nod - knowing the gold medal was his. Shortly after, time expired and he was the victor to the tune of an 8-0 score.
This was McEnelly’s first U20 appearance; however, he grabbed a bronze medal at the U17 World Championships back in 2022.
The final tally for the men’s freestyle team is five gold medals (Blaze, Stanich, Duke, McEnelly, Rademacher), one silver (Henckel), and two bronze medals (Mirasola, Mirasola).
In addition to the men’s freestyle exploits, the first women’s medals were awarded today and four additional weight classes got underway.
The only American woman in the medal round matches was Aubre Krazer at 59 kg. Krazer advanced to the semifinals on Tuesday and was placed in a bronze medal matchup after losing in the semis. Unfortunately, Krazer wasn’t able to get past China’s Yifan Zhu and lost a 5-3 bout to settle for fifth place.
At 68 kg, Jordan Fouse was eligible for repechage but was downed in her first bout of the day by Tukiye’s Ayse Erkan.
From the group of American women whose tournament started on Wednesday, Everest Leydecker at 55 kg, was clearly the standout. Leydecker advanced to a gold medal match tomorrow without surrendering a single point in her three matches.
It wasn’t as if Leydecker was the beneficiary of a soft side of the bracket either. In the quarterfinals, she dismantled Japan’s So Tsutsui, a 2024 U17 world silver medalist. In the semifinals, Leydecker methodically broke Turkiye’s Tuba Demir, a returning U20 world bronze medalist.
In her bout against Demir, Leydecker turned it on in the second period with four takedowns. The last came in the closing seconds of the period. Tomorrow, Leydecker will face India’s Reena in the gold medal match.
Also wrestling for a medal tomorrow is Daniella Nugent at 65 kg. Nugent posted a pair of wild wins to earn a spot in the semifinals. In the Round of 16, Nugent used a pair of takedowns, with under :40 seconds left in the bout, to down Uzbekistan’s Mukhayyo Narzilloeva, 12-10. There was more magic in the quarterfinals, as she got a takedown with :17 seconds left in the bout to go ahead of Sweden’s Saga Svensson and secured a fall, just for good measure.
Nugent’s run on the championship side came to a halt in the semifinals with a 12-2 loss to Japan’s Momoko Kitade. Her opponent in tomorrow’s bronze medal match will be determined after the repechage rounds on Thursday morning.
Additionally, there were a pair of wrestlers who won medals while representing other nations; however, they are at American Universities. Nebraska’s Omar Ayoub claimed a bronze medal for Puerto Rico at 61 kg. McKendree’s Duda Rodriguez captured a bronze at 68 kg in women’s freestyle for Brazil.
In addition to the final three women’s weights (50, 53, 72), Thursday’s action will feature Greco-Roman for the first time. 60 and 82 kg’s will hit the mat first.
Wednesday’s American Results
Men’s Freestyle
61 kg
Gold Medal Match: Marcus Blaze over Ahora Khateri (Iran) 10-0
86 kg
Gold Medal Match: Max McEnelly over Bozigit Islamgereev (Russia) 8-0
Women’s Freestyle
55 kg
Round of 16: Everest Leydecker over Evdoxia Papadopoulou (Greece) 10-0
Quarterfinals: Everest Leydecker over So Tsutsui (Japan) 10-0
Semifinals: Everest Leydecker over Tuba Demir (Turkiye) 10-0
62 kg
Round of 32: Shirin Takemoto (Japan) over Haylie Jaffe 12-2
65 kg
Round of 16: Daniella Nugent over Mukhayyo Narzilloeva (Uzbekistan) 12-10
Quarterfinals: Daniella Nugent over Saga Svensson (Sweden) Fall 5:49
Semifinals: Momoko Kitade (Japan) over Daniella Nugent 12-2
68 kg
Repechage: Ayse Erkan (Turkiye) over Jordyn Fouse 10-0
76 kg
Round of 16: Naomi Simon over Rupinder Johal (Canada) Fall 2:46
Quarterfinals: Tuvshinjargal Tarav (Mongolia) over Naomi Simon 10-4
Final Medal Round Results
Men’s Freestyle
61 kg
Gold Medal Match: Marcus Blaze (USA) over Ahora Khateri (Iran) 10-0
Bronze Medal Match: Magomedkhan Magamedkhanov (Russia) over Sargis Begoyan (Armenia) 12-11
Bronze Medal Match: Omar Ayoub (Puerto Rico) over Adlan Saitiev (Belarus) 8-6
86 kg
Gold Medal Match: Max McEnelly (USA) over Bozigit Islamgereev (Russia) 8-0
Bronze Medal Match: Ahmet Yasgan (Turkiye) over Ryogo Asano (Japan) 9-3
Bronze Medal Match: Abolfazl Rahmani (Iran) over Razmik Yepremyan (Armenia) 4-2
Women’s Freestyle
57 kg
Gold Medal Match: Tapsya (India) over Felicitas Domajeva (Norway) 5-2
Bronze Medal Match: Anna Stratan (Kazakhstan) over Tindra Dalmyr (Sweden) 9-1
Bronze Medal Match: Dolzhon Tsyngueva (Russia) over Sowaka Uchida (Japan) FFT
59 kg
Gold Medal Match: Sakura Onishi (Japan) over Karin Samuelsson (Sweden) 10-0
Bronze Medal Match: Yifan Zhu (China) over Aubre Krazer (USA) 5-3
Bronze Medal Match: Hiunai Hurbanova (Azerbaijan) over Ella Finding (Canada) 4-1
68 kg
Gold Medal Match: Ray Hoshino (Japan) over Srishti (India) 7-0
Bronze Medal Match: Odzaya Erdenebat (Mongolia) over Oleksandra Rybak (Ukraine) 9-8
Bronze Medal Match: Duda Rodrigues (Brazil) over Laura Koehler (Germany) Fall 4:33
Thursday’s Gold Medal Matches
55 kg: Everest Leydecker (USA) vs. Reena (India)
62 kg: Ruzanna Mammadova (Azerbaijan) vs. Yangzhen (China)
65 kg: Momoko Kitada (Japan) vs. Margarita Salnazarian (Russia)
76 kg: Nadiia Sokolovska (Ukraine) vs. Priya (India)
