Voelker, Drury win repechage, advance to bronze medal match at U20 Worlds
by Richard Immel, USA Wrestling
AMMAN, JORDAN – Americans Wyatt Voelker and Landon Drury both qualified for a bronze medal match at the 2023 U20 World Championships by winning in repechage on Saturday morning at Princess Sumaya Lounge.
Voelker opened the morning session for the U.S. as one of three Greco-Roman competitors in the repechage rounds. He fought to a 3-2 decision against Bulgaria’s Ivaylo Ivanov to advance to the 87 kg bronze medal match. Voelker led took a 3-0 lead from a passivity point and body lock counter on the edge of the mat. Ivanov came back with a step out point from an arm spin attempt, and a passivity point, but it wouldn’t be enough to deny the American.
Drury trailed Vasyl Myshanych of Ukraine, 2-0, at the break after surrendering step out and passivity points. The Colorado native generated two turns from par terre in the second stanza to claim a solid, 5-2, win at 63 kg.
The duo of U.S. medal contenders has drawn stout opposition in their respective bronze medal contests. Voelker is up against returning U20 World champion Vigen Nazaryan of Armenia, while Drury will face Kazakhstan’s Dinislam Sagitzhan, who finished in seventh place at last year’s U20 World Championships.
Also competing in repechage for the American delegation was Derek Matthews at 77 kg. Matthews opened the scoring with a step out point in his bout against Individual Neutral Athlete Abdulmasih Abdulmasih. It was all Abdulmasih thereafter as he pounced to a 10-1 victory.
Voelker, Drury and Matthews were all U20 Pan-American champions for the U.S. last month in Santiago, Chile. Both Voelker and Matthews will represent on the NCAA Div. I level next season, Voelker at Northern Iowa and Matthews at Northern Colorado.
The Greco-Roman group one medal matches at the U20 World Championships will be held at 6 p.m. local on Saturday. Amman, Jordan, is in the GMT +3 time zone, which is seven hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time.
Those in the U.S. can watch all the action live on FloWrestling.com. Brackets and updated results will be provided by United World Wrestling on uww.org and the UWW mobile app.
2023 U20 World Championships
At Amman, Jordan, August 14-20
U.S. Greco-Roman Group One (55-63-77-87-130 kg) Results
55 kg – Zachary Silvis (Cottage Grove, Minnesota/Pinnacle WC), eliminated
WIN Dzianis Vitaroi (Individual Neutral Athlete), fall, 5:57
LOSS Ali Ahmadi Vafa (Iran), tech. fall, 11-0
63 kg – Landon Drury (Colorado Springs, Colorado/Betterman Elite Wrestling)
WIN Suhib Alhasanat (Jordan), tech. fall, 9-0
LOSS Zhantoro Mirzaliev (Kyrgyzstan), 8-5
WIN Vasyl Myshanych (Ukraine), 5-2
BRONZE Dinislam Sagitzhan (Kazakhstan)
77 kg – Derek Matthews (Burley, Idaho/Northern Colorado WC), eliminated
LOSS Alexandru Solovei (Moldova), 8-1
LOSS Abdulmasih Abdulmasih (Individual Neutral Athlete), 10-1
87 kg – Wyatt Voelker (Manchester, Iowa/Panther Wrestling Club RTC)
WIN Yhlas Abdurazakov (Turkmenistan), tech. fall, 10-0
WIN Mohit Khokhar (India), 6-3
LOSS Abolfazl Choubani (Iran), 7-2
WIN Ivaylo Ivanov (Bulgaria), 3-2
BRONZE Vigen Nazaryan (Armenia)
130 kg – Aden Attao (Boise, Idaho/Suples WC), eliminated
WIN Ayumu Iwasawa (Japan), 3-1
WIN Koppany Laszlo (Hungary), 8-7
LOSS Achilleas Chrysidis (Greece), 6-4