By Richard Immel
USA Wrestling
TIRANA, Albania – The U.S. collected two medals in men’s freestyle on Saturday evening at the U23 World Championships. Jacob Cardenas finished with a silver medal at 92 kg and Mitchell Mesenbrink battled back to win bronze at 74 kg.

Cardenas battled hard in an 11-4 defeat at the hands of Iranian powerhouse Amirhossein Firouzpourbandpei in the 92 kg gold medal match under the lights at Tirana’s Feti Borova Sports Hall. Cardenas held the criteria advantage, 4-4, at the break. It was all Firouzpourbandpei and his underhook offense in the second period.

It was the third-straight U23 World medal earned by Cardenas. He finished with silver two years ago, also losing to Firouzpourbandpei in the finals, and scored bronze last year.

Mesenbrink chipped away at Magomedrasul Asluev of Bahrain in the 74 kg bronze medal match to bag a 6-0 win. He led 1-0 at the break thanks to a step out point. Asluev surrendered a shot clock midway through the second period to put Mesenbrink up by two. Mesenbrink broke through with two takedowns in the final minute to ice the match.

The win gave Mesenbrink his third age-group World medal and first at the U23 level. He earned two medals at the U20 level, a gold medal in 2023 and a silver medal in 2022.

Also competing in a medal match for Team USA was Lucas Stoddard at 125 kg. Stoddard was ousted for bronze, 10-0, by Individual Neutral Athlete Abdulla Kurbanov and wound up in fifth place.

Two Americans in men’s freestyle group two were pulled into tomorrow afternoon’s repechage round and are still in the mix for a bronze medal—Max Gallagher at 57 kg and Massoma Endene at 97 kg.

Gallagher will need one win to qualify for a bronze medal match, while Endene must collect two wins. Gallagher’s repechage opponent is Qingkan Xie of China. Endene opens the repechage with Aslan Abakarov of Azerbaijan. With a win, he would follow with a match against 2023 U20 World silver medalist Ivan Prymachenko of Ukraine.

79 kg representative Patrick Kennedy was still in the running for a repechage match entering the Saturday evening session but wasn’t pulled through by Japan’s Masaki Sato.

The U23 World Championships continue tomorrow at 4 p.m. local time with the men’s freestyle group two (57-66-70-79-97 kg) repechage followed by the medal matches at 6 p.m. 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

Final Results (Group One)

61 kg

Gold – Bashir Magomedov (Individual Neutral Athlete)

Silver – Ruslan Abdullayev (Azerbaijan)

Bronze – Ebrahim Khari (Iran)

Bronze – Abhishek Dhaka (India)

5th – Levik Mikayelyan (Armenia)

5th – Mykyta Abramov (Ukraine)

7th – Elkin Espana Santa (Colombia)

8th – Endrio Avdyli (Albania)

9th – Iukhan Dokturbek Uulu (Kyrgyzstan)

10th – Meiryu Akamine (Japan)

Gold – Bashir Magomedov (Individual Neutral Athlete) dec. Ruslan Abdullayev (Azerbaijan), 4-0

Bronze – Ebrahim Khari (Iran) dec. Levik Mikayelyan (Armenia), 3-3

Bronze – Abhishek Dhaka (India) dec. Mykyta Abramov (Ukraine), 3-1

74 kg

Gold – Kota Takahashi (Japan)

Silver – Orozobek Toktomambetov (Kyrgyzstan)

Bronze – Dzhabrail Gadzhiev (Azerbaijan)

Bronze – Mitchell Mesenbrink (United States)

5th – Ismail Khaniev (Individual Neutral Athlete)

5th – Magomedrasul Asluev (Bahrain)

7th – Ali Rezaeiaghouzgeleh (Iran)

8th – Narek Harutyunyan (Armenia)

9th – Ismet Ciftci (Turkey)

10th – Luka Chkhitunidze (Georgia)

Gold – Kota Takahashi (Japan) dec. Orozobek Toktomambetov (Kyrgyzstan), 3-1

Bronze – Dzhabrail Gadzhiev (Azerbaijan) dec. Ismail Khaniev (Individual Neutral Athlete), 8-6

Bronze – Mitchell Mesenbrink (United States) dec. Magomedrasul Asluev (Bahrain), 6-0

86 kg

Gold – Arslan Bagaev (Individual Neutral Athlete)

Silver – Arsenii Dzhioev (Azerbaijan)

Bronze – Eugeniu Mihalcean (Moldova)

Bronze – Yudai Takahashi (Japan)

5th – Vladimeri Gamkrelidze (Georgia)

5th – Joshua Morodion (Germany)

7th – Steven Rodriguez Torreyes (Venezuela)

8th – Aaron Ayzerov (Israel)

9th – Deepak Deepak (India)

10th – John Gunderson (United States)

Gold – Arslan Bagaev (Individual Neutral Athlete) dec. Arsenii Dzhioev (Azerbaijan), 6-3

Bronze – Eugeniu Mihalcean (Moldova) dec. Vladimeri Gamkrelidze (Georgia), 6-5

Bronze – Yudai Takahashi (Japan) dec. Joshua Morodion (Germany), 9-2

92 kg

Gold – Amirhossein Firouzpourbandpei (Iran)

Silver – Jacob Cardenas (United States)

Bronze – Mustafagadzhi Malachdibirov (Individual Neutral Athlete)

Bronze – Ion Demian (Moldova)

5th – Musza Arsunkaev (Hungary)

5th – Fatih Altunbas (Turkey)

7th – Gkivi Bliatze (Greece)

8th – Andro Margishvili (Georgia)

9th – Junpeng Zhou (China)

10th – Adlan Viskhanov (France)

Gold – Amirhossein Firouzpourbandpei (Iran) dec. Jacob Cardenas (United States), 11-4

Bronze – Mustafagadzhi Malachdibirov (Individual Neutral Athlete) dec. Musza Arsunkaev (Hungary), 10-1

Bronze – Ion Demian (Moldova) fall Fatih Altunbas (Turkey), 5:39

125 kg

Gold – Amirreza Masoumi Valadi (Iran)

Silver – Alen Khubulov (Bulgaria)

Bronze – Abdulla Kurbanov (Individual Neutral Athlete)

Bronze – Volodymyr Kochanov (Ukraine)

5th – Lucas Stoddard (United States)

5th – Aydin Ahmadov (Azerbaijan)

7th – Pavel Dziatlau (Individual Neutral Athlete)

8th – Toyoki Hamada (Japan)

9th – Batmagnai Enkhtuvshin (Mongolia)

10th – Omarkhan Nadirov (Kazakhstan)

Gold – Amirreza Masoumi Valadi (Iran) tech. fall Alen Khubulov (Bulgaria), 11-0

Bronze – Abdulla Kurbanov (Individual Neutral Athlete) tech. fall Lucas Stoddard (United States), 10-0

Bronze – Volodymyr Kochanov (Ukraine) tech. fall Aydin Ahmadov (Azerbaijan), 11-0

Gold Medal Match Pairings (Group Two)

57 kg

Chirag Chirag (India) vs. Abdymalik Karachov (Kyrgyzstan)

65 kg

Kaiji Ogino (Japan) vs. Ibragim Ibragimov (Individual Neutral Athlete)

70 kg

Magomed Khaniev (Azerbaijan) vs. Magomed Eltemirov (Individual Neutral Athlete)

79 kg

Mahdi Yousefihajivar (Iran) vs. Feng Lu (China)

97 kg

Mahdi Hajiloueian Morafah (Iran) vs. Rizabek Aitmukhan (Kazakhstan)

Semifinal Results (Group Two)

57 kg

Chirag Chirag (India) dec. Allan Oralbek (Kazakhstan), 8-0

Abdymalik Karachov (Kyrgyzstan) dec. Ali Momenijoujadeh (Iran), 4-3

65 kg

Kaiji Ogino (Japan) dec. Abbas Ebrahimzadehsavadkouhi (Iran), 11-7

Ibragim Ibragimov (Individual Neutral Athlete) dec. Umidjon Jalolov (Uzbekistan), 3-0

70 kg

Magomed Khaniev (Azerbaijan) fall Sujeet Sujeet (India), 5:49

Magomed Eltemirov (Individual Neutral Athlete) dec. Ali Khorramdel (Iran), 5-3

79 kg

Mahdi Yousefihajivar (Iran) tech. fall Masaki Sato (Japan), 12-1

Feng Lu (China) dec. Arsen Balaian (Individual Neutral Athlete), 4-2

97 kg

Mahdi Hajiloueian Morafah (Iran) dec. Vicky Vicky (India), 12-8

Rizabek Aitmukhan (Kazakhstan) dec. Shamil Gadzhialiev (Individual Neutral Athlete), 7-4

U.S. Men’s Freestyle Results (Group One)

61 kg – Nic Bouzakis (Dallas, Pennsylvania/Ohio RTC), 13th place

LOSS Levik Mikayelyan (Armenia), 10-3

74 kg – Mitchell Mesenbrink (Hartland, Wis./Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC), bronze medal

WIN Murat Dzhakupov (Kazakhstan), 7-2

LOSS Kota Takahashi (Japan), 11-8

WIN Ali Rezaeiaghouzgeleh (Iran), 16-7

WIN Magomedrasul Asluev (Bahrain), 6-0

86 kg – John Gunderson (Baraboo, Wis./Panther WC-RTC), 10th place

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), silver medal

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

LOSS Amirhossein Firouzpourbandpei (Iran), 11-4

125 kg – Lucas Stoddard (Chardon, Ohio/West Point WC), 5th place

WIN Nicolae Stratulat (Moldova), 8-1

WIN Pavel Dziatlau (Individual Neutral Athlete), 1-1

LOSS Amirreza Masoumi Valadi (Iran), tech. fall, 10-0

LOSS Abdulla Kurbanov (Individual Neutral Athlete), tech. fall, 10-0

U.S. Men’s Freestyle Results (Group Two)

57 kg – Max Gallagher (Blue Point, N.Y./Pennsylvania RTC), repechage

WIN Daniil Yushkouski (Individual Neutral Athlete), tech. fall, 10-0

LOSS Abdymalik Karachov (Kyrgyzstan), 1-1

VS Qingkan Xie (China)

65 kg – Joshua Saunders (St. Louis, Mo./Spartan Combat RTC/Titan Mercury WC), eliminated

LOSS Kumar Mohit (India), 9-2

70 kg – John Wiley (Mustang, Okla./Oklahoma RTC), eliminated

WIN Davit Patsinashvili (Georgia), 5-4

LOSS Tigran Ghazaryan (Armenia), 5-3

79 kg – Patrick Kennedy (West Concord, Minn./Hawkeye WC), eliminated

WIN Mukhammad Abdullaev (Kyrgyzstan), tech. fall, 11-0

WIN Umar Mavlaev (Switzerland), fall, 2:49

LOSS Masaki Sato (Japan), 8-6

97 kg – Massoma Endene (Waverly, Iowa/Burg Training Center), repechage

LOSS Mahdi Hajiloueian Morafah (Iran), 10-6

VS Aslan Abakarov (Azerbaijan)