Kaufman and Smith Earn Medals at Flatz Open

WOLFURT, Austria – Lucas Kaufman led Team USA’s four-man side at the 2026 Flatz Open in Austria with a silver medal at Hofsteigsporthalle Wolfurt. 2025 Bill Farrell Memorial International silver medalist Ben Smith also medaled at the U20 competition with a bronze at 79 kg.

In the two-group round robin at 57 kg, Kaufman went 2-1 in group A, anchored by two technical fall wins to close out the group stage. Against Germany’s Lars Reiter in the semifinals, Kaufman kept his run of technical falls going with a 10-0 win to move into the final.

Kaufman looked to avenge his only loss of the day to three-time age-group World qualifier Danoush Jowkar of Great Britain (10-0) in the gold medal bout. However, Jowkar edged Kaufman for gold in a 12-8 decision.

Kaufman’s silver medal is his first international medal in just his second international tournament.

Smith suffered a narrow 3-1 setback to eventual gold medalist and three-time age-group World participant Antoni Majchrzak of Poland in his first match of the day. In the repechage, Smith pinned Magnus Hötzel of Germany to keep his hopes for a medal alive. Going for bronze, Smith won a 6-2 decision against Germany’s Konstantin Polewoi en route to his second international medal.

Kendall Drake joined Smith 79 kg and finished 1-1. He pinned Slovakia’s Slavomir Prilepok but lost an 11-0 contest to 2025 U20 World Championship competitor David Kodakov of Spain.

Reese Spiro rounded out Team USA’s squad with a fourth-place finish at 86 kg. Spiro pinned both of his opponents in the group stage of the bracket, including eventual silver medalist and three-time age-group World qualifier Nick Scherrer of Switzerland. He then suffered a 12-1 defeat to 2025 U20 World competitor Israel’s Tomer Drozhniak in the semifinals. Spiro lost his second straight bout in the bronze medal match to five-time age-group World participant Bartlomiej Nowakowski of Poland, 11-1.

Each of the four competitors for the U.S. at the Flatz Open is a part of USA Wrestling’s Elite Accelerator Program.

The EAP was designed to develop young athletes with Olympic potential at the USOPTC in Colorado Springs, Colo. This has included wrestlers who are still in high school or are high school graduates who choose to train in the international styles before going to college.

EAP athletes on the men’s freestyle side are coached by two-time World champion and Olympic bronze medalist J’den Cox, who is the U.S. national men’s freestyle developmental coach.

The full list of medalists for the Flatz Open and all U.S. competitor results are listed below.

Complete results are available at urcw.at.

Gold – Danoush Jowkar (Great Britain)

Silver – Lucas Kaufman (United States)

Bronze – Lars Reiter (Germany)

Gold – Nico Altmeier (Germany)

Silver – Kristian Cikel (Austria)

Bronze – Kajetan Wieczorek (Poland)

Gold – Ivan Oksiuk (Poland)

Silver – William Lehn (Germany)

Bronze – Dario Fischietti (Germany)

Bronze – Tinio Ritter (Switzerland)

Gold – Jakub Kesy (Poland)

Silver – Danny Mayr (Germany)

Bronze – Rashid Betergaraev (Austria)

Gold – Gracjan Matyjasek (Poland)

Silver – Eli Soltanov (Israel)

Bronze – Manuel Loeper (Germany)

Gold – Antoni Majchrzak (Poland)

Silver – Daniel Simonian (Israel)

Bronze – Elias Kunz (Germany)

Bronze – Ben Smith (United States)

Gold – Tomer Drozhniak (Israel)

Silver – Nick Scherrer (Switzerland)

Bronze – Bartlomiej Nowakowski (Poland)

Gold – Hendrik Jahn (Germany)

Silver – Michal Iwanski (Poland)

Gold – Piotr Grela (Poland)

Silver – Tom Ulamec (Germany)

Bronze – Arijan Mula (Germany)

LOSS Danoush Jowkar (Great Britain), tech. fall, 10-0

WIN Pavlo Ilnytskyi (Poland), tech. fall, 14-3

WIN Alexander Schweng (Germany), tech. fall, 10-0

WIN Lars Reiter (Germany), tech. fall, 10-0

LOSS Danoush Jowkar (Great Britain), 12-8

WIN Slavomir Prilepok (Slovakia), fall, 4:13

LOSS David Kodakov (Spain), tech. fall, 11-0

LOSS Antoni Majchrzak (Poland), 3-1

WIN Magnus Hötzel (Germany), fall, 2:04

WIN Konstantin Polewoi (Germany), 6-2

WIN Nick Scherrer (Switzerland), fall, 4:19

WIN Luis Baumgartner (Austria), fall, 2:51

LOSS Tomer Drozhniak (Israel), tech. fall, 12-1

LOSS Bartlomiej Nowakowski (Poland), tech. fall, 11-1