Drury, Bowling IV pulled back into Greco-Roman medal contention

SAMOKOV, Bulgaria – A pair of U.S. Greco-Roman athletes will have an opportunity to wrestle back through the repechage on Sunday as the last four weight classes of the U20 World Championships wrapped up their semifinals on Saturday night in Samokov, Bulgaria.

Landon Drury and Lesiter Bowling IV will be the last U.S. athletes to compete during the competition as the event concludes on Sunday evening.

Drury’s path to a bronze will start with an opening repechage bout at 63kg against China’s Hao Yang. If Drury, an athlete at Northern Michigan University's National Training Stite, wins, a match with Iran’s Mohammad Aboutalebi will await. Hao has limited international experience, while Aboutalebi was a bronze medalist at the U20 Asian Championships back in early July.

That part of the repechage concludes with a bronze medal about against semifinal loser Kristiyan Milenkov of host Bulgaria.

Bowling IV, an incoming freshman at the University of Iowa, will take on Kazakhstan’s Akzhan Ykylassov in the repechage at 77kg. Ykylassov was a U20 Asian champion this past year. The winner will face UWW athlete Kiryl Valeuski in one of the two bronze medal bouts at 77kg.