Patrick Kennedy in action at the U23 World Championships.

Patrick Kennedy in action at the U23 World Championships.

USAWInternationalCollege2024 U23 + Senior Worlds

Gallagher, Kennedy fall in quarters, three in repechage running at U23 World Championships

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by Richard Immel, USA Wrestling

TIRANA, Albania – The U.S. men’s freestyle team had an up-and-down morning session at the U23 World Championships with all five group two athletes taking a loss and just three remaining in the mix for the repechage entering tonight’s semifinals.


Max Gallagher and Patrick Kennedy looked sharp early on in the tournament before dropping tight matches in the quarterfinal round at Tirana’s Feti Borova Sports Hall.


Gallagher began his day at 57 kg with an impressive 10-0 technical fall against Individual Neutral Athlete Daniil Yushkouski. Gallagher scored from a number of positions in the match, securing four takedowns and ending things with a leg lace. He couldn’t find the same rhythm in a 1-1 quarterfinal loss to Abdymalik Karachov of Kyrgyzstan. The only points in the match came from activity time, Gallagher in the first and Karachov in the second.


Up at 79 kg, Kennedy was a buzzsaw in the early rounds, collecting an 11-0 technical fall over 2022 U20 World bronze medalist Mukhammad Abdullaev of Kyrgyzstan, plus a pin in 2:49 on Umar Mavlaev of Switzerland, to qualify for the quarters. He controlled the pace and ties for the bulk of his match with Masaki Sato of Japan but gave up takedowns in the critical moments to come up short, 8-6.


Mustang, Okla., product John Wiley put up a respectable 1-1 record at 70 kg. He opened with a down-to-the-wire, 5-4, victory against Davit Patsinashvili of Georgia, who is a two-time U23 European bronze medalist. Wiley was defeated in the round-of-16 by Tigran Ghazaryan of Armenia, 5-3.


Joshua Saunders and Massoma Endene dropped their opening bouts—Saunders a 9-2 loss to Kumar Mohit of India at 65 kg and Endene a 10-6 loss to 2021 U20 World silver medalist Mahdi Hajiloueian Morafah of Iran at 97 kg.


Gallagher, Kennedy and Endene all remain alive for a repechage match and will be paying close attention to semifinal results to see if they are back in tomorrow morning. Wiley and Saunders were eliminated from the tournament after quarterfinal results came through.


The U23 World Championships continue at 4:45 p.m. local time with the men’s freestyle group two (57-65-70-79-97 kg) semifinals, followed by the men’s freestyle group one (61-74-86-92-125 kg) 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

Semifinal Matchups (Group Two)

57 kg

Chirag Chirag (India) vs. Allan Oralbek (Kazakhstan)

Ali Momenijoujadeh (Iran) vs. Abdymalik Karachov (Kyrgyzstan)


65 kg

Abbas Ebrahimzadehsavadkouhi (Iran) vs. Kaiji Ogino (Japan)

Ibragim Ibragimov (Individual Neutral Athlete) vs. Umidjon Jalolov (Uzbekistan)


70 kg

Sujeet Sujeet (India) vs. Magomed Khaniev (Azerbaijan)

Magomed Eltemirov (Individual Neutral Athlete) vs. Ali Khorramdel (Iran)


79 kg

Mahdi Yousefihajivar (Iran) vs. Masaki Sato (Japan)

Arsen Balaian (Individual Neutral Athlete) vs. Feng Lu (China)


97 kg

Mahdi Hajiloueian Morafah (Iran) vs. Vicky Vicky (India)

Shamil Gadzhialiev (Individual Neutral Athlete) vs. Rizabek Aitmukhan (Kazakhstan)


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

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

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

LOSS Abdymalik Karachov (Kyrgyzstan), 1-1


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), awaiting repechage

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), awaiting repechage

LOSS Mahdi Hajiloueian Morafah (Iran), 10-6

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