Melelashvili makes finals, guarantees first Greco-Roman medal for U.S. at U23 World Championships

TIRANA, Albania – It was an evening for the history books at Tirana’s Feti Borova Sports Hall for Team USA—Beka Melelashvili won his 82 kg semifinal showdown to become the first American to clinch a Greco-Roman medal in the history of the U23 World Championships, an event that dates back to 2017.

After posting a 3-0 record during the Monday morning session, Melelashvili rode the momentum to a gutsy 3-3 criteria decision over Elmin Aliyev of Azerbaijan in the semifinals. Aliyev took a 3-0 lead to the break by countering a Melelashvili front headlock attempt and tacking on a passivity point. Melelashvili returned serve in the second period by scoring a passivity point and converting a gut wrench. The pivotal gutwrench sequence from top was initially scored as no points for Melelashvili, but a U.S. challenge got the call reversed.

Melelashvili, who earned fifth place at the 2022 edition of this event while competing for Georgia, is scheduled to face Mohammad Naghousi of Iran for the gold medal tomorrow night. Naghousi is a three-time age-group World medalist and past U20 World champion.

Prior to today, the highest Greco-Roman finish from an American at the U23 Worlds came from Taylor LaMont, who placed fifth at 55 kg in 2021. Before Melelashvili’s run, LaMont was the only American to ever wrestle in a Greco-Roman semifinal or medal match at this event.

Colorado native Max Black, a current Senior National Team member for the U.S., entered the semifinal session with a chance at a repechage match at 60 kg after dropping a 9-0 contest to Nihad Guluzade of Azerbaijan in his opener. Unfortunately for Black, Guluzade gave up a pair of dynamic four-point moves to Alisher Ganiev of Uzbekistan in the semifinals and was teched, 9-0. The Guluzade loss eliminated Black from the tournament.

U.S. athletes who had their runs in Albania cut short prior to the evening session were Robert Perez III at 67 kg, Justus Scott at 72 kg and Wyatt Voelker at 97 kg. Perez III posted a 1-1 record during the morning session, while Scott and Voelker both went 0-1.

The U23 World Championships continue tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. local time with the Greco-Roman group one (60-67-72-82-97 kg) repechage and the qualification rounds for Greco-Roman group two (55-63-77-87-130 kg). For those following along live, Tirana, Albania, is located six hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time.

Updated brackets and match-by-match results are available on UWW Arena. A live broadcast of the event is available for the U.S. market at FloWrestling.com.

Revisit the details of each match from today in our day one match notes article.