Lilledahl, Sealy collect gold, Salazar, Tecson grab bronze at Flatz Austria Open

Photo: 2023 Flatz Austria Open champions Luke Lilledahl (left) and Joe Sealey (right) atop the awards podium in Wolfurt, Austria. (James Green/USA Wrestling)

WOLFURT, Austria – The U.S. earned four total medals, two gold and two bronze, in the U20 men’s freestyle division on the first day of action at the 2023 Flatz Austria Open in Wolfurt, Austria.

The lethal Wyoming Seminary Wrestling Club duo of Luke Lilledahl (St. Charles, Mo./Wyoming Seminary) and Joe Sealey (Bear Creek Township, Pa./Wyoming Seminary), both of whom are reigning U17 World champions in freestyle, secured gold medals with relative ease on Saturday at Hofsteig Sporthalle.

With only three competitors in his weight class, Lilledahl entered round robin play to determine the final placements at 57 kg. He earned 10-0 technical falls over Laszlo Lengyel of Hungary and Sayed Mahdi Jamshidi of Switzerland, wrestling just over three minutes combined on the day, to win the gold medal.

Sealey won three-straight contests at 74 kg on his road to gold. He picked up technical falls against all three of his opponents, tallying a combined 33-2 score throughout his matches. In the championship bout Sealy defeated Hungary’s Marcell Nagy, 10-0. Nagy has previously wrestled for a medal at both the U20 and Cadet European Championships.

Bronze medals were awarded to Ramon Salazar (Firestone, Colo./Elite Accelerator Program) at 65 kg and EJ Tecson (Tulsa, Okla./Elite Accelerator Program) at 74 kg. Salazar went 3-1 on the day, earning the bronze medal by way of injury default over Alex Gombox of Hungary. Tecson won a back-and-forth bout over fellow American Anwaar Alli (Ashley, Ohio/Wyoming Seminary), 9-7, in his bronze medal match.

Alli and Ethan Freund (Kelso, Wash./Elite Accelerator Program) topped off the list of U.S. competitors in the U20 division. Both men collected respectable fifth place finishes.

The Flatz Austria Open continues Sunday with the U17 men’s freestyle portion of the event. The competition will begin at 10 a.m. local time (GMT+2) with three Americans taking the mats: Nikos Filipos (Allentown, Pa./Wyoming Seminary) at 51 kg, Matthew Botello (Hingham, Mass./Wyoming Seminary) at 60 kg and Jake Bacon (Dallas, Pa./Wyoming Seminary) at 71 kg.

Wolfurt, Austria, is located six hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time.

More information about the Flatz Austria Open, including complete event schedule, brackets and results, can be found at urcw.at.

Flatz Austria Open
At Wolfurt, Austria, April 15-16

U20 men’s freestyle final results
57 kg
GOLD – Luke Lilledahl (United States)
SILVER – Sayed Mahdi Jamshidi (Switzerland)
BRONZE – Laszlo Lengyel (Hungary)

61 kg
GOLD – Jules Gardette (France)
SILVER – Zoltan Mizsei (Hungary)
BRONZE – Robert Meszaros (Slovakia)

65 kg
GOLD – Benedek Kiss (Hungary)
SILVER – Ronen Kolesnik (Israel)
BRONZE – Ramon Salazar (United States)
BRONZE – Jakob Saurwein (Austria)

70 kg
GOLD – Muamed Bektemirov (Austria)
SILVER – Alexander Seiwald (Austria)
BRONZE – Robert Biblia (Hungary)
BRONZE – Micah Naisbet (Germany)

74 kg
GOLD – Joe Sealey (United States)
SILVER – Marcell Nagy (Hungary)
BRONZE – EJ Tecson (United States)
BRONZE – Mukhammad Inshapiev (Austria)

79 kg
GOLD – Balint Balazs (Hungary)
SILVER – Michal Veres (Slovakia)
BRONZE – Raffaele Matrullo (Italy)
BRONZE – Lukas Lins (Austria)

86 kg
GOLD – Gabrielle Niccolini (Italy)
SILVER – Roland Bendeguz Rosz (Hungary)
BRONZE – Peter Zsivnovszki (Hungary)

92 kg
GOLD – Musza Arsunkaev (Hungary)
SILVER – Nikita Goubarets (Israel)

97 kg
GOLD – Adam Jaksik (Slovakia)
SILVER – Krisztian Angyal (Hungary)
BRONZE – Mokhmad Khounkaev (France)

125 kg
GOLD – Hanan Haimov (Israel)

U.S. men’s freestyle results
57 kg – Luke Lilledahl (St. Charles, Mo./Wyoming Seminary), Gold
WIN Laszlo Lengyel (Hungary), 10-0
WIN Sayed Mahdi Jamshidi (Switzerland), 10-0

65 kg – Ethan Freund (Kelso, Wash./Elite Accelerator Program), 5th
WIN Luca Hartmann (Austria), 12-2
LOSS Benedek Kiss (Hungary), 10-3
LOSS Jakob Saurwein (Austria), 14-3

65 kg – Ramon Salazar (Firestone, Colo./Elite Accelerator Program), Bronze
WIN Daniel Kovac (Slovakia), 11-2
WIN Theo Guilot (France), 10-0
LOSS Ronen Kolesnik (Israel), 8-3
WIN Alex Gombox (Hungary), Forfeit

74 kg – Anwar Alli (Ashley, Ohio/Wyoming Seminary), 5th
LOSS Marcell Nagy (Hungary), 4-2
LOSS EJ Tecson (United States), 9-7

74 kg – EJ Tecson (Tulsa, Okla./Elite Accelerator Program), Bronze
WIN Robin Mikecz (Slovakia), 12-1
LOSS Marcell Nagy (Hungary), 7-1
WIN Anwaar Alli (United States), 9-7

74 kg – Joe Sealey (Bear Creek Township, Pa./Wyoming Seminary), Gold
WIN Zoltan Major (Hungary), 10-0
WIN Mukhammad Inshapiev (Austria), 13-2
WIN Marcell Nagy (Hungary), 10-0