Mittlestead wins Veterans World Greco-Roman gold for a double title, USA gets four medals on Friday
by Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling
LOUTRAKI, Greece – The first day of Greco-Roman at the 2023 Veterans World Championships featured competition in Group B and Group E on Friday. The United States earned four medals on the day, led by
individual gold medalist Eric Mittlestead of California (130 kg Div. E).
Mittlestead won a five-athlete round robin with a perfect 4-0 record, getting a pin, a technical fall, a decision and an injury default. Included was a 5-0 shutout over eventual silver medalist Asghar Marani of Iran.
With the victory, Mittlestead became a double champion at the 2023 Veterans Worlds, after also winning a freestyle gold medal on Tuesday. He was an NCAA Div. I All-American at Cal-State Bakerfield, and was a member of the Freestyle National Team.
Capturing a silver medal was Charles Jones of Nevada (100 kg Div. E). Jones qualified for the finals with an 8-0 technical fall over Bernard Bauer of Germany. In the finals, he was edged by Detlef John of Germany, 2-1.
Claiming bronze medals for Team USA were Stephen Horton of Texas (70 kg Div. E) and Ben VomBaur of Colorado (62 kg Div. B). Both won their second medal of the week, after capturing freestyle medals on Tuesday.
Horton opened with two victories, including a technical fall and a forfeit. After a tight 4-3 loss to Lars Dahl of Sweden, Horton was pulled back into repechage when Dahl reached the finals. Horton won his first repechage match with a 9-0 technical fall over Nurakhan Utepbergenov of Kazakhstan. He claimed the bronze medal by injury default when Domenico Piccinini of Italy could not compete. Horton won a silver medal in freestyle on Tuesday.
VomBaur won his bronze medal match with a 6-5 victory over Jarkko Wester of Sweden. His only loss came to eventual champion Claudiu Gavrila of Romania. VomBaur won a gold medal in freestyle on Tuesday.
The Greco-Roman competition continues on Saturday with action in Div. C and Div. D. Sunday will conclude with Greco-Roman competition in Div. A.
The Veterans World Championships are broadcast live on FloWrestling.
2023 Veterans World Championships
At Loutraki, Greece, October 20
Div. B Greco-Roman champions
62 kg – Claudiu Gavrila (Romania)
70 kg – Milan Maric (Serbia)
78 kg – Dumitru Popov (Moldova)
88 kg – Karam Gaber Ebrahim (Egypt)
100 kg – Peter Cseperkalo (Hungary)
130 kg – Leif Eddy Bengtsson (Sweden)
U.S. Div. B Greco-Roman results
62 kg – Ben VomBaur, Greeley, Colo., Bronze Medal
LOSS Claudiu Gavrila (Romania), tech fall 9-1
WIN Jarkko Wester (Sweden), 6-5
70 kg - James Ferguson, Omaha, Neb., 7th place
WIN Eric Caballero (USA), pin 0:48
LOSS Khalid Jafarov (Azerbaijan), tech fall 9-1
70 kg – Eric Caballero, Houston, Texas, 10th place
LOSS James Ferguson (USA), pin 0:48
78 kg – Andrei Stashonak, Brooklyn, N.Y., 5th place
WIN Juan Nel (South Africa), 5-1
WIN Efthymios Papageorgiou (Greece), tech fall 9-0
LOSS Dumitru Popov (Moldova), 5-1
LOSS Aake Kantola (Sweden), 3-1
78 kg – Joseph Uccelini, Troy, N.Y., 16th place
LOSS Nikola Jovanovic (Serbia), tech fall 9-0
88 kg - Jeremy Black, LaJolla, Calif., 15th place
LOSS James Medeiros (USA), tech fall 8-0
88 kg - Gerald Harris II, Broken Arrow, Okla.., 9th place
WIN Nikolaos Spyridakis (Greece), 1-1
LOSS Vangel Vangelov (Bulgaria), 3-1
88 kg – Michael LeVanti, Schaumburg, Ill., 17th place
LOSS Karam Gaber Ebrahim (Egypt), tech fall 8-0
LOSS Evgenii Glazkov (Individual Neutral Athlete), 3-0
88 kg – James Medeiros, Granada Hills, Calif., 7th place
WIN Jeremy Black (USA), tech fall 8-0
WIN Ahmed Saleh (Egypt), 8-5
LOSS Huseyin Memi (Turkey), tech fall 9-0
Div. E Greco-Roman champions
62 kg – Terho Kettunen (Finland)
70 kg - Lars Dahl (Sweden)
78 kg – Jukka Saari (Finland)
88 kg – Gert Pettersson (Sweden)
100 kg – Detlef John (Germany)
130 kg – Eric Mittlestead (USA)
U.S. Div. E Greco-Roman results
62 kg – Joseph Raia,, South Elgin, Ill.,
WIN Asadollah Jalali (Iran), 3-2
LOSS Vasil Atanasov (Bulgaria), tech fall 9-0
70 kg - Marc Cecconi, Waynesville, Ga., 15th place
LOSS Laszlo Bodai (Hungary), tech fall 8-0
70 kg - Stephen Horton, Cibolo, Texas, Bronze Medal
WIN Iunus Makhumov (Kyrgyzstan), tech fall 9-0
WIN Irian Baishekenov (Kazakhstan), forfeit
LOSS Lars Dahl (Sweden), 4-3
WIN Nurakhan Utepbergenov (Kazakhstan), tech fall 9-0
WIN Domenico Piccinini (Italy), inj. dft.
70 kg - Michael Madry, Saint Petersburg, Fla., 8th place
WIN Hussain A Daws (Saudi Arabia), tech fall 8-0
LOSS Domenico Piccinini (Italy), tech fall 9-0
78 kg – Louis Orr, Rochester, Minn., 15th place
LOSS Giancarlo Gibellini (Italy), pin 1:17
88 kg - Petros Petrosyan, Los Alamitos, Calif., no placement
LOSS Gert Pettersson (Sweden), pin 1:44
LOSS Petrica Dragomir (Romania), double forfeit
88 kg – James Miller, Houston, Texas, 7th place
LOSS Igor Dokuchaev (Individual Neutral Athlete), 3-0
100 kg – Erik Hinckley, Lansing, Kansas, 7th place
LOSS Detlef John (Germany), tech fall 9-0
LOSS Abdurashid Bagavdinov (Individual Neutral Athlete), tech fall 8-0
100 kg – Charles Jones, North Las Vegas, Nev., Silver Medal
WIN Emirbek Magomedbekov (Individual Neutral Athlete), forfeit
WIN Cetin Boga (Turkey), forfeit
WIN Bernard Bauer (Germany), tech fall 8-0
LOSS Detlef John (Germany), 2-1
130 kg – Brian Jones, Los Angeles, Calif., 4th place
WIN Zoltan Pozsonyi (Hungary), inj. dft, 0:02
LOSS Eric Mittlestead (USA), pin 0:40
LOSS Asghar Marani (Iran), pin 0:49
LOSS Igor Polataev (Individual Neutral Athlete), pin 0:16
130 kg – Eric Mittlestead, Exeter, Calif., Gold Medal
WIN Asghar Marani (Iran), 5-0
WIN Brian Jones (USA), pin 0:40
WIN Igor Poletaev (Individual Neutral Athlete), tech fall 11-2
WIN Zoltan Pozsonyi (Hungary), inj. dft.