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Jacobson Upends Olympic Medalist en Route to Bronze Medal Match at Zagreb Open

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by David Gerhart, USA Wrestling

Payton Jacobson competes at 2025 U23 World Championships in Novi Sad, Serbia

Payton Jacobson competes at 2025 U23 World Championships in Novi Sad, Serbia

ZAGREB, Croatia – 2025 U23 World bronze medalist Payton Jacobson battled through the repechage at 87 kg to move into a bronze medal match at the Zagreb Open.


Jacobson started the tournament with back-to-back wins to move into the quarterfinals. He first won a 3-1 decision against 2020 Olympic bronze medalist Croatia’s Ivan Huklek. In his second match, Jacobson rolled to a 9-1 technical fall over Antonio Lukac of Croatia.


In the quarterfinals, Jacobson was unable to rally against World medalist Tamas Levai of Hungary in a 4-1 decision. Levai is now in the gold medal match.


Looking to secure a spot in the medal rounds, Jacobson shutout two-time age-group World medalist Kazakhstan’s Maksat Sailau in an 8-0 technical fall.


For bronze, Jacobson faces 2024 World silver medalist Erik Szilvassy of Hungary.


Zac Braunagel also competed at 87 kg for Team USA. After dropping an opening round match to the division’s other finalist, five-time age-group World medalist Istvan Takacs of Hungary, Braunagel tried to battle through a pair of repechage matches. He first beat Rahimjon Uzokov of Uzbekistan, 10-6, to move a win away from the medal round. However, after falling behind 5-0, Braunagel’s comeback attempt fell short in a 6-3 decision against Uzbekistan’s Mukhammadkodir Rasulov.


Action from Zagreb continues at 6 p.m. local time / Noon (ET) with women’s freestyle group three (53-57-72-76 kg) and Greco-Roman group two (77-87 kg) medal matches.


A live broadcast of the event is available to the U.S. market through FloWrestling.

Brackets and match-by-match results can be found on UWW Arena.


2026 Zagreb Open 

At Zagreb, Croatia, February 7 


Reference Links 


Greco-Roman Results 

Medal Match Pairings 

77 kg 

Gold – Zoltan Levai (Hungary) vs. Ali Oskou (Iran)

Bronze – Stoyan Kubatov (Bulgaria) vs. Abdollo Aliev (Uzbekistan)

Bronze – Robert Fritsch (Hungary) vs. Temuri Orkonikidze (Georgia)


87 kg 

Gold – Ivan Takacs (Hungary) vs. Tamas Levai (Hungary)

Bronze – Mukhammadkodir Rasulov (Uzbekistan) vs. Matej Mandic (Croatia)

Bronze – Payton Jacobson (United States) vs. Erik Szilvassy (Hungary)


U.S. Greco-Roman Results 

77 kg – Kamal Bey (Colorado Springs, Colo./Army WCAP), eliminated 

LOSS Ali Oskou (Iran), 7-0

LOSS Yehia Abdelkader (Egypt), 2-1


87 kg – Zac Braunagel (Arnold, Md./Navy WC), eliminated 

LOSS Istvan Takacs (Hungary), tech. fall, 9-1

WIN Rahimjon Uzokov (Uzbekistan), 10-6

LOSS Mukhmmadkodir Rasulov (Uzbekistan), 6-3


87 kg – Payton Jacobson (Marquette, Mich./NMU National Training Center), bronze medal match 

WIN Ivan Huklek (Croatia), 3-1

WIN Antonio Lukac (Croatia), tech. fall, 9-1

LOSS Tamas Levai (Hungary), 4-1

WIN Maksat Sailau (Kazakhstan), tech. fall, 8-0

VS Erik Szilvassy (Hungary)