Bommarito gets gold, Cardenas a silver, Stemmet a bronze at Beach World Series in Romania

TIMISOARA, Romania – For the second straight Beach World Series event, the United States came home with a record three medals.

2024 World champion Eliana Bommarito won a gold medal at Over 70 kg for women, Daniel Cardenas won a silver medal at 80 kg for men and Nikolas Stemmet won a bronze medal at Over 90 kg for men at the Beach World Series Timisoara in Romania on Sunday.

At the previous 2024 Beach World Series event in Saint Laurent du Var, France, the USA won three medals, a gold from Bommarito, a silver from Mariah Anderson at 50 kg for women and a bronze from Kyle Ferriter at Over 90 kg for men.

Bommarito continued her dominance of the Beach World wrestling scene, winning her fourth Beach World Series gold medal. She won her semifinal match today over Florentina Biru of Romania, 3-0, then stopped Aikaterina Pitsiava of Greece, 3-0. She won three of her four matches in less than a minute.

It is Bommarito’s fourth career Beach World Series gold medal, two from 2023 and now two in 2024. No other American has won more than one Beach World Series gold.

Cardenas went 2-0 on Saturday, then lost his final Group C match to Christos Christoforidis of Greece, 3-2. Cardenas scored enough points in the Group competition to earn a spot in the semifinals, where he beat Ramiz Hasanov of Azerbaijan, 2-1. In the championship finals, he lost to Christoforidis, 4-0 and came home with a silver medal.

Stemmet also went 2-0 on Saturday, then lost his final Group C match to fellow American Gabe Rangel by pin. Stemmet scored enough points to advance to the semifinals, where he lost to Mamuka Kordzaia of Georgia, 3-0. In the bronze-medal match, he beat Omar Sarem of Syria, 3-2.

Justin Benjamin, who won a Beach World Series event in Acapulco, Mexico earlier this year, placed fifth at 70 kg, finishing with a 3-1 record. He advanced to the elimination rounds, but was defeated in the quarterfinals.

Team USA placed third in the men’s division with 45 points, behind team champion Turkey with 54 points and runner-up Azerbaijan with 52 points.

Although Bommarito was the only U.S. entry, the USA team was fourth in the women’s standings, which was won by Ukraine.

BEACH WORLD SERIES TIMISOARA

At Timisoara, Romania, July 20-21

Men’s Medalists

70 kg

Gold - Yunus Coskun (Turkey)

Silver - Rashid Babazade (Azerbaijan)

Bronze - Oleksii Boruta (Ukraine)

80 kg

Gold - Christos Christoforidis (Greece) 

Silver - Daniel Cardenas (USA) 

Bronze - Vasile Diacon (Moldova)

90 kg

Gold - Traian Capatina (Moldova) 

Silver - Ibrahim Yusubov (Azerbaijan

Bronze - Oleksii Yakovchuk (Ukraine)

Over 90 kg

Gold - Mamuka Kordzaia (Georgia)

Silver - Fatih Yasarli (Turkey)

Bronze - Nikolas Stemmet (USA)

U.S. men’s Beach results

70 kg: Justin Benjamin, St. Charles, Ill.. 5^th place

WIN Pavel Graur (Moldova), 2-2

WIN Ion Berghi (Moldova), 3-0, 1:52

WIN Razvan Marian Kovacs (Romania), pin 2:10

LOSS Oleksii Boruta (Ukraine), 2-0

70 kg: Mitch Brown, Colorado Springs, Colo. , 12^th place

WIN Vasileios Kesidis (Greece), 3-0, 1:11

LOSS Oleksii Boruta (Ukraine), 3-0, 1:58

LOSS Rashid Babazade (Azerbaijan), 2-1

80 kg: Daniel Cardenas, Arvada, Colo., Silver Medal

WIN Gigi Marian Subtirica (Romania), 3-1, 2:57

WIN Denis Chirica (Romania), pin 1:23

LOSS Christos Christoforidis (Greece), 3-2

WIN Ramiz Hasanov (Azerbaijan), 2-1

LOSS Christos Christoforidis (Greece), 4-0, 2:48

80 kg: Hunter Garvin, Iowa City, Iowa , 9^th place

WIN Hugo Cuenot (France), inj. dft 0:20

LOSS Ion Marcu (Moldova), pin 0:41

LOSS Ramiz Hasanov (Azerbaijan), 2-0

Over 90 kg: Kyle Ferriter, Colorado Springs, Colo., 9^th place

WIN Gabriel Rangel (USA), 3-0, 0:27

LOSS Nikolas Stemmet (USA), 3-0, 1:38

LOSS Omar Sarem (Syria), pin 2:04

Over 90 kg: Gabe Rangel, Moline, Ill. , 8^th place

LOSS Kyle Ferriter (USA), 3-0, 0:27

LOSS Omar Sarem (Syria), 2-0, 0:59

WIN Nikolas Stemmet (USA), pin 0:21

Over 90 kg: Nikolas Stemmet, Yorkville, Ill. , bronze medal

WIN Omar Sarem (Syria), 3-1, 2:38

WIN Kyle Ferriter (USA), 3-0, 1:38

LOSS Gabe Rangel (USA), pin 0:21

LOSS Mamuka Kordzaia (Georgia), 3-0, 2:41

WIN Omar Sarem (Syria), 3-2, 2:07

Women’s Medalists

50 kg

Gold - Ana Maria Pirvu (Romania)

Silver - Viktoriia Slobodeniuk (Ukraine)

Bronze - Nicoleta Cristina Bajan (Romania)

60 kg

Gold - Sofiia Kushnir (Ukraine)

Silver - Anastasiya Kravchenko (Ukraine) 

Bronze - Sofiia Bordinskykh (Ukraine)

70 kg

Gold - Viktoriia Hrytsenko (Ukraine)

Silver - Oksana Herhel (Ukraine)

Bronze - Olena Nikitinska (Ukraine)

Over 70 kg

Gold - Eliana Bommarito (USA)

Silver - Aikaterini Pitsiava (Greece)

Bronze - Iryna Pasichnyk (Ukraine)

U.S. women’s Beach results

+70kg: Eliana Bommarito, Brighton, Mich., gold medal

WIN Stefania Zacheila (Greece), 3-0, 0:35

WIN Iryna Pasichnyk (Ukraine), 3-0, 0:45

WIN Florentina Biru (Romania), 3-0, 0:24

WIN Aikaterina Pitsiava (Greece), 3-0, 1:03

UWW Senior Beach World Series Medals from the USA

(Beach World Series held 2019-present)

Men

Justin Benjamin, St. Charles, Ill. (2024 Gold at 70 kg, Acapulco, Mexico)

Tim Box, Oceanside, Calif. (2019 Silver at 70 kg, Odessa, Ukraine)

Daniel Cardenas, Arvada, Colo (2024 Silver at 80 kg, Timisoara, Romania)

Reece Humphrey, Princeton, N.J. (2019 Bronze at 70 kg, Rio de Janiero, Brazil)

Michael Peters, Quincy, Ill. (2019 Bronze at 70 kg, Zagreb, Croatia)

Tyson Beauperthuy, Colorado Springs, Colo. (2023 Bronze at 90 kg, Constanta, Romania)

Kyle Ferriter, Colorado Springs, Colo. (2024 Bronze at Over 90 kg, Saint Laurent du Var, France)

Nikolas Stemmet, Yorkville, Ill. (2024 Bronze at Over 90 kg, Timisoara, Romania)

Women

Eliana Bommarito, Brighton, Mich.(2024 Gold at Over 70 kg, Saint Laurent du Var, France)

Eliana Bommarito, Brighton, Mich. (2023 Gold at Over 70 kg, Mugla, Turkey)

Eliana Bommarito, Brighton, Mich. (2023 Gold at Over 70 kg, Constanta, Romania)

Eliana Bommarito, Brighton Mich. (2024 Gold at Over 70 kg, Timisoara, Romania)

Laura White, Duanesburg, N.Y. (2022 Bronze at 50 kg, Saint Laurent du Var, France)

Kristal Betanzo, Hillsborough, Calif. (2019 Silver at 50 kg, Zagreb, Croatia)

Diana Betanzo, Hillsborough, Calif. (2019 Silver at 70 kg, Zagreb, Croatia)

Mariah Anderson, Houston, Texas (2024 Silver at 50 kg, Saint Laurent du Var, France)