Bassett Back On Top, U.S. Adds Four Medals To Men’s Freestyle Haul At U20 World Championships

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia – The U.S. men’s freestyle unit picked up its third gold medalist of the week and made it six-for-six on medals after Saturday night’s session at the 2026 U20 World Championships.  

Bo Bassett led the way for Team USA on his way to the 65 kg title. In vintage Bassett fashion, he turned a 2-1 second-period deficit to Takuto Osedo of Japan into a comfortable 8-2 decision, thanks to his relentless pace and seemingly always full gas tank. This was Bassett’s only match of the tournament to go to a decision—the other four ended by pin or technical fall.

The performance marks Bassett’s third age-group World medal, and second gold. He won the 2021 U17 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, and was a bronze medalist at the 2024 U20 World Championships in Pontevedra, Spain.

The summer isn’t done for Bassett. He has accepted a spot on the U23 World Team and is expected to wrestle off 2025 World bronze medalist Real Woods for the Senior World Team berth in the coming weeks. Both the U23 and Senior World Championships are in October.

Bassett begins his college career as a freshman at Virginia Tech in the fall. His Hokie teammate Aaron Seidel won 61 kg gold on Friday, as did Missouri’s Aeoden Sinclair at 86 kg. Both Seidel and Sinclair were NCAA All-Americans last March as freshmen.  

Also in the finals for Team USA was Isaiah Cortez at 57 kg, who earned his second silver medal at the U20 World Championships following an 8-4 loss to 2023 U17 European champion Magomed Magomedov of Russia. Cortez was able to find some offense in the gold medal match, but it was Magomedov’s calculated counter-wrestling that proved the difference.

Cortez, an incoming freshman at Cornell, is one of the few Americans to hold a U20 World medal in both styles. He was a Greco-Roman silver medalist in 2024, before earning freestyle silver today. The last American to accomplish this feat was Adam Coon, who medaled in both styles at heavyweight in 2014. Coon went on to become a Senior World silver medalist and Olympian in Greco-Roman.

Bronze medals went to Ryan Burton at 79 kg and Jimmy Mastny at 92 kg. Burton became the third medalist with Virginia Tech ties thanks to a come-from-behind 10-4 win over Eljan Ismayilzada of Azerbaijan. Mastny also utilized some late-match heroics in his 3-2 win over U20 Asian silver medalist Beibarys Yergali of Kazakhstan.

Team USA maintained its lead atop the team ranking heading into the final day of wrestling. The U.S. has medaled in all six weights so far, earning three golds, one silver, and two bronzes, amassing 125 team points. Russia sits in second place with 106 points. Japan (84), Kazakhstan (63) and Iran (51) round out the top five teams.

Four matches remain for Team USA at the U20 Worlds—2025 U17 World champion Jayden James at 74 kg, Michael Boyle at 97 kg and Dreshaun Ross at 125 kg all seek gold medals, while 2026 NCAA champion Landon Robideau looks to bounce back for bronze at 70 kg.

Read More: U20 World Championships Day Seven Match Notes

The action concludes from A4 Studio at 4:15 p.m. local time on Sunday with the men’s freestyle group three (70-74-97-125 kg) repechage, followed by the medal matches at 6 p.m. 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.