Seidel, Sinclair capture men’s freestyle gold at U20 World Championships

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia – Two up, two down for the U.S. men’s freestyle team—Aaron Seidel and Aeoden Sinclair completed masterful gold-medal runs on Friday night at the 2026 U20 World Championships.

Seidel was the pace car for the men’s freestyle unit this week in Slovakia—keyword: pace.  He picked apart U20 Asian champion Bekassyl Assambek of Kazakhstan 7-0 in the 61 kg finals with masterful edge wrestling and a high attack rate.

It was the first international tournament for the NCAA All-American from Virginia Tech. Seidel finished the event with three technical falls and a pin in the preliminary rounds, in addition to his seven-point decision in the finals. He took out three age-group World medalists on his path to gold, in what was one of the more dominant U20 performances we have seen in recent memory.

Joining Seidel atop the medal stand was Sinclair, a fellow NCAA All-American from Missouri. He was put in an early 4-0 hole by Russia’s Akhmad Mukutov in the 86 kg finals. Like in yesterday’s semifinal comeback win, Sinclair remained steady and committed to his attacks. Three step outs, two takedowns and a caution point later, Sinclair earned the title of champion by an 8-4 margin.

Sinclair, a two-time age-group World Team member, posted preliminary round wins over U20 Asian bronze medalist Natsura Okazawa of Japan, U20 Asian bronze medalist Askhab Khajiyev of Kazakhstan and 2024 U17 World champion Abolfazl Shamsipour Hajivand of Iran. Sinclair’s resilience shone through, particularly in the semifinals and finals, where he overcame large, early-match deficits.

Team USA has a perfect score of 50 points and sits atop the team ranking after men’s freestyle group one wrapped up. Russia holds down second place with 35 points. Kazakhstan isn’t far behind in third place with 30 points. Japan and Iran round out the current top five countries.

Read More: U20 World Championships Day Six Match Notes

The action continues from A4 Studio at 10 a.m. local time on Saturday with the men’s freestyle group two (57-65-79-92 kg) repechage, plus the men’s freestyle group three (70-74-97-125 kg) qualification rounds. 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.