Mesenbrink on to second World final, Berge drops finals rematch

Video: U.S. athlete and coach interviews at U20 World Championships

AMMAN, JORDAN – As the semifinal round came to a close on Tuesday evening inside Princess Sumaya Lounge, energetic American Mitchell Mesenbrink found himself back in the U20 World finals. Conversely, returning finalist Bennett Berge felt the agonizing sting of a semifinal loss to a familiar foe.

As he did during his first three bouts of the day, Mesenbrink operated at will in the 74 kg semifinals. Kyrgyzstan’s Zhakshylyk Baitashov appeared helpless from the jump as Mesenbrink converted a couple flashy takedowns, a leg lace and a gutwrench sequence to end things 10-0 in less than a minute.

The championship match pits Mesenbrink against returning U20 World bronze medalist Hossein Mohammad Aghaei of Iran. The two wrestled in the 70 kg quarterfinals of last year’s event with Mesenbrink earning a 9-7 decision. It was one of the highlight matches from Sofia, Bulgaria, last summer.

As for Berge, he was unable to exact revenge on France’s talented Rakhim Magamadov in a rematch of last year’s U20 World final at 86 kg. Magamadov took the lead early and kept Berge at a distance on the scoreboard throughout the 9-2 contest.

Berge had some opportune moments to convert takedowns and string some scoring sequences together, particularly in the second period when Magamadov tired. He couldn’t complete the puzzle in time. A second-period challenge from the American corner that swapped points from Berge’s ledger to his opponents put a real damper on any hopes of a comeback.

The opportunity remains for Berge to claim his second-straight U20 World medal as he drops down into a bronze medal match. His opponent will be determined in tomorrow morning’s repechage round.

After coming up short in the quarterfinals, U.S. athletes Nic Bouzakis and Christian Carroll were pulled into the repechage and are each one win away from a bronze medal match. Bouzakis will face the winner of Hungary’s Zoltan Mizsei and Moldova’s Dmitri Carastoianov at 61 kg. Carroll awaits the victor between China’s Da Lu and Turkey’s Hakan Buyukcingil at 125 kg.

After dropping a heart-wrenching opener to Georgia’s Giorgi Romelashvili, Jack Darrah will not get a chance to wrestle back for a medal. Romelashvili fell in the 92 kg semifinals, ending Darrah’s run in Jordan.

The U20 World Championships continue at 10 a.m. local time on Wed. with the men’s freestyle repechage, as well as the start of women’s freestyle. The men’s freestyle medal matches for this group are at 6 p.m. Amman, Jordan, is in the GMT +3 time zone, which is seven hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time.

Those in the U.S. can watch all the action live on FloWrestling.com. Brackets and updated results will be provided by United World Wrestling on uww.org and the UWW mobile app.

2023 U20 World Championships

At Amman, Jordan, August 14-20

U.S. Men’s Freestyle Group Two (61-74-86-92-125 kg) Results

61 kg – Nic Bouzakis (Dallas, Pennsylvania/X-Calibur Athletics WC/Ohio RTC)

WIN Shehabeldin Mohamed (Egypt), 4-2

WIN Yahor Rudauski (Individual Neutral Athlete), 9-6

LOSS Kumar Mohit (India), 12-11

VS Zoltan Mizsei (Hungary) or Dmitri Carastoianov (Moldova)

74 kg – Mitchell Mesenbrink (Hartland, Wisconsin/Askren Wrestling Academy)

WIN Ion Marcu (Moldova), tech. fall, 10-0

WIN Elkhan Garayev (Azerbaijan), tech. fall, 12-1

WIN Jaideep Jaideep (India), tech. fall, 11-0

WIN Zhakshylyk Baitashov (Kyrgyzstan), tech. fall, 10-0

GOLD Hossein Mohammad Aghaei (Iran)

86 kg – Bennett Berge (Mantorville, Minnesota/Jackrabbit WC)

WIN Ivan Chornohuz (Ukraine), 9-5

WIN Slavi Stamenov (Bulgaria), tech. fall, 11-0

LOSS Rakhim Magamadov (France), 9-2

BRONZE Vadzim Bandarkou (Independent Neutral Athlete), Shakjir Bislimi (Macedonia) or Orazmuhammet Hojalyyev (Turkmenistan)

92 kg – Jack Darrah (Washington, Missouri/California RTC)

LOSS Giorgi Romelashvili (Georgia), 4-3

125 kg – Christian Carroll (Stillwater, Oklahoma/Cowboy RTC)

WIN Ksawery Kaminski (Poland), tech. fall, 14-2

LOSS Amirreza Masoumi Valadi (Iran), tech. fall, 10-0

VS Da Lu (China) or Hakan Buyukcingil (Turkey)