Cortez, Bassett power to U20 World finals, Burton to bronze match, Mastny makes repechage

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia – It’ll be a return trip to the U20 World podium for both Isaiah Cortez and Bo Bassett. The two U20 World veterans punctuated the men’s freestyle group two effort on Friday with sensational semifinal victories.

Bassett, a U17 World champion and U20 World bronze medalist, stole the show on Friday night with a first-period pin over talented Russian Zalimkhan Umarov. His fourth bonus-point win of the tournament has Bassett in the 65 kg gold medal match against Takuto Osedo of Japan.

In addition to the Zalimkhan pin, Bassett earned first-period technical falls over Yeraly Askerbek of Kazakhstan and Haci Zade of Türkiye, plus a 41-second pin against 2022 U17 World bronze medalist Bashir Verdiyev of Azerbaijan.

Cortez, a 2024 U20 World silver medalist in Greco-Roman, took a tactical 4-3 decision over 2024 U17 World champion Ulugbek Rashidov of Uzbekistan in the 57 kg semifinals. A Cortez takedown-to-turn combination early in the second period made all the difference. His finals opponent is 2023 U17 European champion Magomed Magomedov of Russia.

In the preliminary rounds, Cortez picked apart 2024 U17 Asian bronze medalist Chengtao Wang of China with a 13-2 technical fall and took a sound 6-0 decision over Nurassyl Assambek of Kazakhstan.

The 79 kg semifinal between Ryan Burton and Senior Asian champion Keyvan Gharehdaghi of Japan came down to the final exchange. Trailing on criteria late, Burton sprinted to a quad pod position on the edge of the mat, where he tried to pull Gharehdaghi over the top of himself as time expired. The sequence was called two points for Gharehdaghi and upheld on video review, giving Gharehdaghi a 5-2 win.

Once the semifinal results came through, 92 kg entrant Jimmy Mastny was pulled into repechage and has an opportunity to wrestle back for bronze. His repechage opponent tomorrow morning is two-time U20 European champion Artur Togoev of Russia.

Read More: U20 World Championships Day Six Match Notes

The action continues from A4 Studio at 6 p.m. local time with the women’s freestyle group three (57-59-68 kg) and men’s freestyle group one (61-86 kg) medal matches. Bratislava, Slovakia, is six hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time.

Fans can watch the U20 World Championships live or on-demand at FloWrestling.org. Brackets and live results are available through UWW Arena.

USA Wrestling will provide continued updates from the U20 World Championships on TheMat.com and its social media platforms.