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The Champs are Here! Blaze, McEnelly cap U.S. record-setting tournament with two more golds

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by Jason Bryant, Special the TheMat.com

Max McEnelly was one of five U.S. men's freestyle champions at the U20 World Championships.

Max McEnelly was one of five U.S. men's freestyle champions at the U20 World Championships.

SAMOKOV, Bulgaria – A historical look at the men’s freestyle portion of the U20 World Championships will show some dominant performances. Russia and Iran have had some monster teams over the past 20 years. As good as Team USA has been, the gold medal count just never seemed to break through.

Whatever it was that was holding Team USA back from claiming more than three golds in a year is now gone.

Marcus Blaze and Max McEnelly won gold medals on Wednesday night at Arena Samokov in Samokov, Bulgaria to cap off a U.S. men’s freestyle team championship, five gold medals and eight medals overall. Coupled with gold won earlier in the week by Luke Stanich, P.J. Duke and Justin Rademacher, the five golds is the most in U.S. history in men’s freestyle at the U20 World Championships.

Blaze controlled every aspect of his 61kg gold medal final with Iran’s Ahora Khateri. Blaze scored five stepouts, an inactivity point, a two-point takedown and a two-point exposure for the 10-0 final tally.

The gold is Blaze’s second age-level gold medal, to go along with his 2023 U17 world title and his second U20 medal, paired with last year’s silver at the same weight class.

McEnelly followed with an 8-0 blanking of UWW athlete Bozigit Islamgereev. McEnelly led 2-0 at the break and blew the match open in the second period. McEnelly nearly had a match-ending takedown in the final seconds, but Islamgereev slipped away, escaping the technical superiority.

The eight medals ties the second-most won since UWW shifted the age groups in the mid-1990s when they eliminated the Espoir division (19-20).

The U.S. outdistanced second-place Kazakhstan 185-112 in the team standings. Iran was one point behind Kazakhstan in third with 111. Kazakhstan had one gold, one silver, and three bronze medals. Iran came away with one gold, two silvers and two bronzes.

Marcus Blaze captured his third age-group world medal with a gold on Wednesday night in Samokov, Bulgaria. (Photo by Richard Immel, USA Wrestling)

The first three weights of women’s freestyle concluded with Team USA falling just short of a medal as Aubre Krazer fell in the bronze medal match at 59kg to Yifan Zhu of China.

Japan, unsurprisingly, jumped out to an early team lead, winning two golds on Wednesday night and finishing fifth in the other weight. Sakura Onishi won her second straight U20 world title, shutting out Sweden’s Karin Samuelsson 10-0. It’s the third age-group world title for Onishi, who outscored her opponents 40-0.

Ray Hoshino blanked India’s Srishti 7-0 at 68kg. It’s Hoshino’s second U20 title – she claimed gold in 2023. American Jordyn Fouse finished 16th.

India’s Tapsya claimed the 57kg title, defeating Norway’s Felicitas Domajeva 5-2. Team USA’s Carissa Qureshi finished 10th at the weight.

The U.S. women’s freestyle team is tied for 11th with 12 points after three completed weight classes.

Men’s Freestyle #

Final Team Standings #

  1. United States 185
  2. Kazakhstan 112
  3. Iran 111
  4. Azerbaijan 71
  5. Georgia 66
  6. India 60
  7. Japan 57
  8. Turkiye 46
  9. Moldova 44
  10. Armenia 35

61kg #

Gold - Marcus Blaze (United States)

Silver - Ahora Khateri (Iran)

Bronze - Magomedkhan Magamedkhanov (UWW)

Bronze - Omar Ayoub (Puerto Rico)

5. Sargis Begoyan (Armenia)

5. Adlan Saitiev (UWW)

7. Allan Oralbek (Kazakhstan)

8. Ajay Kapade (India)

9. Pasquale Liuzzi (Italy)

10. Askat Toktomatov (Kyrgyzstan)

Medal Match Results #

Gold: Marcus Blaze (United States) tech. fall Ahora Khateri (Iran) 10-0

Bronze: Omar Ayoub (Puerto Rico) dec. Adlan Saitiev (UWW) 8-6

Bronze: Magomedkhan Magamedkhanov (UWW) dec. Sargis Begoyan (Armenia) 12-11


86kg #

Gold - Max McEnelly (United States)

Silver - Bozigit Islamgereev (UWW)

Bronze - Ahmet Yagan (Turkey)

Bronze - Abolfazl Rahmani (Iran)

5. Ryogo Asano (Japan)

5. Razmik Yepremyan (Armenia)

7. Dachi Papinashvili (Georgia)

8. Dovletgeldi Myradov (Turkmenistan)

9. Mukul Dahiya (India)

10. Tomer Drozhniak (Israel)

Medal Match Results #

Gold: Max McEnelly (United States) dec. Bozigit Islamgereev (UWW) 8-0

Bronze: Abolfazl Rahmani (Iran) dec. Razmik Yepremyan (Armenia) 4-2

Bronze: Ahmet Yagan (Turkey) dec. Ryogo Asano (Japan) 9-3

Women’s Freestyle #

Team Standings (Through three weights) #

  1. Japan 60
  2. India 45
  3. Sweden 30
  4. Kazakhstan 21
  5. Norway 20
  6. Lithuania 16
  7. Azerbaijan 15
  8. Brazil 15
  9. China 15
  10. Mongolia 15

57kg #

Gold - Tapsya (India)

Silver - Felicitas Domajeva (Norway)

Bronze - Anna Stratan (Kazakhstan)

Bronze - Dolzhon Tsyngueva (UWW)

5. Tindra Dalmyr (Sweden)

5. Sowaka Uchida (Japan)

7. Inna Alimova (Lithuania)

8. Darya Ilyasevich (UWW)

9. Busra Cengiz (Turkey)

10. Carissa Qureshi (United States)

Medal Match Results #

Gold: Tapsya (India) dec. Felicitas Domajeva (Norway) 5-2

Bronze: Dolzhon Tsyngueva (UWW) inj. def. Sowaka Uchida (Japan)

Bronze: Anna Stratan (Kazakhstan) dec. Tindra Dalmyr (Sweden) 9-1

59kg #

Gold - Sakura Onishi (Japan)

Silver - Karin Samuelsson (Sweden)

Bronze - Yifan Zhu (China)

Bronze - Hiunai Hurbanova (Azerbaijan)

5. Aubre Krazer (United States)

5. Ella Finding (Canada)

7. Anna Tieliegina (Lithuania)

8. Marta Hetmanava (UWW)

9. Rosa Rodriguez (Spain)

10. Mariia Miziurko (Ukraine)

Medal Match Results #

Gold: Sakura Onishi (Japan) tech. fall Karin Samuelsson (Sweden) 10-0

Bronze: Hiunai Hurbanova (Azerbaijan) dec. Ella Finding (Canada) 4-1

Bronze: Yifan Zhu (China) dec. Aubre Krazer (United States) 5-3

68kg #

Gold - Ray Hoshino (Japan)

Silver - Srishti (India)

Bronze - Odzaya Erdenebat (Mongolia)

Bronze - Eduarda Rodrigues Batista (Brazil)

5. Oleksandra Rybak (Ukraine)

5. Laura Koehler (Germany)

7. Gulnura Tashtanbekova (Kyrgyzstan)

8. Sabina Torey (Kazakhstan)

9. Joseth Mavungu (Angola)

10. Lene McCrackin (Canada)

Medal Match Results #

Gold: Ray Hoshino (Japan) dec. Srishti (India) 7-0

Bronze: Eduarda Rodrigues Batista (Brazil) fall Laura Koehler (Germany) 4:32

Bronze: Odzaya Erdenebat (Mongolia) dec. Oleksandra Rybak (Ukraine) 9-8

2025 U20 World Championships #

At Samokov, Bulgaria, August 17-24 #



U.S. Men’s Freestyle Group 3 results #

61kg – Marcus Blaze (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg WC/Titan Mercury WC) #

WIN Sandro Hungerbuehler (Switzerland), tech. fall, 10-0.

WIN Sargis Begoyan (Armenia), disq., 3 cautions

WIN Askat Toktomatov (Kyrgyzstan), tech. fall, 11-1

WIN Magomedkhan Magamedkhanov (UWW), tech. fall, 15-4

WIN Ahora Khateri (Iran), tech. fall, 10-0


86 kg – Max McEnelly (Waconia, Minn./Minnesota RTC) #

WIN Razmik Yepremyan (Armenia), tech. fall, 10-0

WIN Dachi Papinashivili (Georgia), tech. fall, 10-0

WIN Abolfazl Rahmani Firouzjaei (Iran), dec. 5-5, criteria

WIN Bozigit Islamgereev (UWW), dec. 8-0


U.S. Women's Freestyle Group 1 results #

57 kg – Carissa Qureshi (Irvine, Calif. / USOPTC) #

WIN Csilla Van Os (Netherlands), tech. fall, 15-2

LOSS Anna Stratan (Kazakhstan), dec. 9-2


59 kg – Aubre Krazer (Easton, Pa./Gold Medal WC) #

WIN Anel Shokayeva (Kazakhstan), tech. fall, 11-1

WIN Erdenebolor Lkhagvasuren (Mongolia), dec., 10-3

WIN Marta Hetmanava (UWW), dec., 9-1

LOSS Sakura Onishi (Japan) 10-0

LOSS Yifan Zhu (China) 5-3


68 kg – Jordyn Fouse (Roaring Spring, Pa./Bishop McCort) #

LOSS Ray Hoshino (Japan), fall, 4:04

LOSS Ayse Erkan (Turkiye), tech. fall, 10-0