Mills, Kikiniou make U17 World finals, Burnett to bronze match in men’s freestyle

ATHENS, Greece — The opening day of men’s freestyle saw Team USA emerge with a pair of finalists at the 2025 U17 World Championships—Ariah Mills at 45 kg and Arseni Kikiniou at 65 kg.

Mills blasted his way to the World finals with a 7-2 victory over U17 European champion Ravan Hasanzade of Azerbaijan. The pivotal moment of the match was a four-point takedown from space that put Mills up, 4-1, with 26 seconds to go in the first period. He added a neutral exposure from a single leg attempt in the second to extend the lead and ice the match.

Kikiniou is the talk of the tournament having guaranteed a second U17 World medal this week, bronze in Greco-Roman and minimum silver in freestyle. His semifinal match against Morteza Haj Mollamohammadi of Iran came down to the wire. Kikiniou trailed, 2-0, late, and was able to convert a step out and takedown in the final moments to escape with a 3-2 decision.

Finals opponents for the U.S. duo are Sina Boustani Kalateh Abbasabad of Iran for Mills and returning U17 World silver medalist Huseyn Ismayilov of Azerbaijan for Kikiniou.

After a sound performance in the morning session, Ohio native Grey Burnett came up short to returning U17 World bronze medalist Jinnosuke Okonogi of Japan in the 55 kg semifinals. Okonogi led 3-2 at the break and added a pair of takedowns in the second period to finish with an 8-2 decision.

With the group one semifinal results in, two Americans will miss out on repechage opportunities—Aaron Stewart at 80 kg and Alex Taylor at 110 kg. Stewart finished 1-1, dropping his quarterfinal to UWW athlete Issa Zangiev. Taylor was upended in his opener by Hakim Taghiyev of Azerbaijan.

The men’s freestyle tournament continues on Saturday, with the action starting at 10:30 a.m. local time with group two preliminaries. Group one medal matches are set for 6 p.m. For those following along live, Athens, Greece, is located seven hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time.

Group two athletes taking the mats tomorrow for Team USA are Keegan Bassett at 45 kg, Samuel Sanchez at 51 kg, Ashton Besmer at 60 kg, Jayden James at 71 kg and Tanner Hodgins at 92 kg.

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.

Stay tuned to TheMat.com and USA Wrestling’s social media platforms for complete coverage of the U17 World Championships.