Cortez, Black to wrestle for Greco-Roman gold, Rix McElhinney, Attao in repechage at U20 World Championships

PONTEVEDRA, Spain – The U.S. earned a pair of Greco-Roman finalists and put two wrestlers into the repechage rounds as day one of the 2024 U20 World Championships concluded on Monday evening at Pontevedra Municipal Sports Hall.

California product Isaiah Cortez and Colorado’s own Otto Black both went undefeated on the day to grab coveted places in the gold medal finals. In the semifinals, Cortez collected a first period technical fall over Aibek Aitbekov of Kazakhstan, while Black emerged with a hard-fought, 7-2, decision against two-time U20 European medalist Yurik Hoveyan of Armenia.

After each man launched an arm throw attempt from neutral to no avail, Cortez was awarded the first chance on top at the 4:33 mark of his 55 kg semifinal. He went right to work, gathering an arm bar, which transitioned to a trapped-arm gut-wrench, and picked up four consecutive turns to end the match decisively, 9-0, in just over two minutes.

Cortez has drawn 2022 U17 World champion Ali Ahmadi Vafa of Iran in the gold medal match. Ahmadi Vafa defeated individual neutral athlete Alibek Amirov, 6-3, in the opposite semifinal. The Iranian finished in fifth place at last year’s U20 World Championships and was a bronze medalist at the U20 Asian Championships.

The bookends told the tale in Black’s 63 kg semifinal. The first 51 seconds of the match saw Hoveyan collect a high-dive takedown, which was immediately reversed by Black, who also scored a gut-wrench before being brought back to neutral standing. The next five minutes of the match featured high-paced pummeling, but no points. Hoveyan attempted a flying squirrel in the final seconds and was countered to the back by Black, cementing his place in the finals.

Black is up against individual neutral athlete Erzu Zakriev for the gold medal. Zakriev, who looked dynamic in his 16-4 semifinal win over Anri Khozrevanidze of Georgia, is the reigning U20 European champion.

Both Cortez and Black earned gold at the U20 Pan American Championships earlier this summer. Black was a U17 World Team member in 2021, finishing in fifth place at the event. This is Cortez’s first World tournament appearance.

Three Americans entered the semifinal session with repechage hopes following 0-1 starts to the tournament. 77 kg representative Aydin Rix McElhinney and 130 kg entrant Aden Attao were granted repechage matches after the opponents who defeated them made the finals. At 87 kg, Ryder Rogotzke did not receive a repechage berth.

Both Rix McElhinney and Attao will need three wrestle-back wins to secure a bronze medal. Rix McElhinney opens the repechage against Jixin Yu of China. Attao does the same against Ethan Vergara of Puerto Rico.

The U20 World Championships continue tomorrow at 10 a.m. local time with the Greco-Roman group one (55-63-77-87-130 kg) repechage and the qualification rounds for Greco-Roman group two (60-67-72-82-97 kg). Pontevedra, Spain, is located six hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time.

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

Stay tuned to TheMat.com and USA Wrestling’s social media platforms for complete coverage of the U20 World Championships.