hell Mesenbrink in action at the U23 World Championships.
Mesenbrink advances to men’s freestyle bronze medal match at U23 World Championships
Share:
by Richard Immel, USA Wrestling
TIRANA, Albania – Mitchell Mesenbrink advanced through the men’s freestyle repechage round on Saturday morning at the 2024 U23 World Championships, qualifying for a bronze medal match at 74 kg.
Mesenbrink, a 2023 U20 World champion, defeated Ali Rezaeiaghouzgeleh of Iran 16-7 in a typical, high-scoring Mesenbrink affair at Tirana’s Feti Borova Sports Hall. Mesenbrink trailed 5-4 heading into the second period. He exploded for 12 second-period points, as Rezaeiaghouzgeleh slowly faded due to Mesenbrink’s high pace.
In the bronze medal bout, Mesenbrink will face another tough test in Magomedrasul Asluev of Bahrain. Asluev was a bronze medalist at the 2023 Senior Asian Championships.
2024 U23 Pan American silver medalist John Gunderson went 1-1 during the repechage rounds at 86 kg. He opened with a solid 7-5 win against Finland’s Miko Elkala. In the pivotal second round repechage bout, Gunderson fell 5-0 to Vladimeri Gamkrelidze of Georgia. Gamkrelidze is 2024 Olympian and 2023 Senior World silver medalist.
Accompanying Mesenbrink in tonight’s medal round for Team USA are Jacob Cardenas, who will wrestle for gold, and Lucas Stoddard, who is up for a bronze.
The men’s freestyle group one (61-74-86-92-125 kg) medal matches are schedule for 6 p.m. this evening. 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 six match notes article.
2024 U23 World Championships | At Tirana, Albania, October 26
Men’s Freestyle Results
Medal Match Pairings (Group One)
61 kg
Gold – Bashir Magomedov (Individual Neutral Athlete) vs. Ruslan Abdullayev (Azerbaijan)
Bronze – Ebrahim Khari (Iran) vs. Levik Mikayelyan (Armenia)
Bronze – Abhishek Dhaka (India) vs. Mykyta Abramov (Ukraine)
74 kg
Gold – Orozobek Toktomambetov (Kyrgyzstan) vs. Kota Takahashi (Japan)
Bronze – Ismail Khaniev (Individual Neutral Athlete) vs. Dzhabrail Gadzhiev (Azerbaijan)
Bronze – Magomedrasul Asluev (Bahrain) vs. Mitchell Mesenbrink (United States)
86 kg
Gold – Arslan Bagaev (Individual Neutral Athlete) vs. Arsenii Dzhioev (Azerbaijan)
Bronze – Eugeniu Mihalcean (Moldova) vs. Vladimeri Gamkrelidze (Georgia)
Bronze – Yudai Takahashi (Japan) vs. Joshua Morodion (Germany)
92 kg
Gold – Jacob Cardenas (United States) vs. Amirhossein Firouzpourbandpei (Iran)
Bronze – Musza Arsunkaev (Hungary) vs. Mustafagadzhi Malachdibirov (Individual Neutral Athlete)
Bronze – Fatih Altunbas (Turkey) vs. Ion Demian (Moldova)
125 kg
Gold – Amirreza Masoumi Valadi (Iran) vs. Alen Khubulov (Bulgaria)
Bronze – Lucas Stoddard (United States vs. Abdulla Kurbanov (Individual Neutral Athlete)
Bronze – Aydin Ahmadov (Azerbaijan) vs. Volodymyr Kochanov (Ukraine)
U.S. Men’s Freestyle Results (Group One)
61 kg – Nic Bouzakis (Dallas, Pennsylvania/Ohio RTC), eliminated
LOSS Levik Mikayelyan (Armenia), 10-3
74 kg – Mitchell Mesenbrink (Hartland, Wis./Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC), bronze medal match
WIN Murat Dzhakupov (Kazakhstan), 7-2
LOSS Kota Takahashi (Japan), 11-8
WIN Ali Rezaeiaghouzgeleh (Iran), 16-7
VS Magomedrasul Asluev (Bahrain)
86 kg – John Gunderson (Baraboo, Wis./Panther WC-RTC), eliminated
WIN Emre Ciftci (Turkey), 11-11
LOSS Arslan Bagaev (Individual Neutral Athlete), tech. fall, 11-0
WIN Miko Elkala (Finland), 7-5
LOSS Vladimeri Gamkrelidze (Georgia), 5-0
92 kg – Jacob Cardenas (Kearny, N.J./Cliff Keen WC), gold medal match
WIN Mustafagadzhi Malachdibirov (Individual Neutral Athlete), tech. fall, 10-0
WIN Filip Szucki (Poland), 5-1
WIN Andro Margishvili (Georgia), fall, 5:12
WIN Musza Arsunkaev (Hungary), 5-2
VS Amirhossein Firouzpourbandpei (Iran)
125 kg – Lucas Stoddard (Chardon, Ohio/West Point WC), bronze medal match
WIN Nicolae Stratulat (Moldova), 8-1
WIN Pavel Dziatlau (Individual Neutral Athlete), 1-1
LOSS Amirreza Masoumi Valadi (Iran), tech. fall, 10-0
VS Abdulla Kurbanov (Individual Neutral Athlete)
