Tuesday marked the first day when medals were awarded at the 2025 U17 World Championships and the American Greco-Roman team earned a pair of bronze medals. Michael Rundell at 48 kg and Arseni Kikiniou both had to win multiple matches Tuesday morning to earn their hardware. 
In his repechage bout against Gurban Majnunov (Azerbaijan), Rundell blocked an arm throw attempt and countered with a four-point head pinch to immediately take a commanding lead on his Azeri opponent. He would hold on to win 7-3. 
For the bronze medal, Rundell was paired with Japan’s Kaisei Yamamoto. This match started in the opposite fashion. Rundell wasn’t able to stop the arm throw and gave up four points, followed by a fifth on a step-out. Despite the early hole, Rundell didn’t let up. He got back in the match in the final seconds of the opening period by countering an arm throw without letting Yamamoto get back to his feet - instead, he was thrown for four points. 
With his late throw, Rundell was able to start the second period with a manageable 6-4 deficit. Within the first minute, Rundell took the lead on criteria after countering a Yamamoto throw attempt. With Yamamoto pressing while trailing for the first time, Rundell used his patented head pinch for four points at the edge and a 10-6 lead. In the closing seconds, he would add another takedown for a 12-6 victory and the bronze medal. 
Kikiniou ended up needing two wins just to wrestle for the bronze. He put himself in that position after a fall and a 5-1 win in the second repechage contest. That set the stage for a meeting with Ukraine’s Yehor Tarasenko with a medal hanging in the balance. The pair exchanged passivity points, and the bout was 1-1 in favor of Kikiniou late in the second period. Tarasenko was desperately pushing for any type of score and got out of position. With that, Kikiniou took him to his back for four points as the final seconds ticked off the clock. 
The United States already has two medals in 2025 and there’s another possibility in Greco as the 92 kg representative, David Calkins, will be in a repechage match Wednesday morning. Calkins was the only American Greco wrestler to advance to the quarterfinals in this tournament, which happened after wins over opponents from China and Croatia. He dropped a close 7-5 match to Belarus’ Kanstantin Kasyan in the quarters; however, he was pulled back into medal contention when Kasyan won his next bout. 
In addition to Calkins, four other Americans started their Greco tournaments on Tuesday. Thales Silva, Carter Shin, and Dom Wilson all went 0-1 and were eliminated. Will Detar used a second-period rally that included two scoring sequences from a head pinch that resulted in an 8-7 win over Moldova’s Vlad Duminica. 
After Wednesday’s repechage matches, the women’s freestyle competition will commence. Madison Healey (43 kg), Morgan Turner (49 kg), Emma Bacon (57 kg), Violette Lasure (65 kg), and Emma Poalillo (73 kg) will all be in action tomorrow. 
 
American results
45 kg
Round of 16: Abdurrahman Huseynli (Azerbaijan) over Thales Silva  6-3
 
48 kg
Repechage: Michael Rundell over Gurban Majnunov (Azerbaijan)  7-3
Bronze Medal Match: Michael Rundell over Kaisei Yamamoto (Japan)  12-6
 
51 kg
Round of 32: Pavlos Tsentidis (Greece) over Carter Shin  4-2
 
55 kg
Repechage: Lavozier Wadik Maruso (Brazil) over Alexander Pierce  4-3
 
60 kg
Round of 32: Will Detar over Vlad Duminica (Moldova)  8-7
Round of 16: Humoyun Erkinov (Uzbekistan) over Will Detar  7-1
 
65 kg
Repechage: Arseni Kikiniou over Huseyn Isgandarov (Azerbaijan)  Fall 3:29
Repechage: Arseni Kikiniou over Kyliane Eddouh (France)  5-1
Bronze Medal Match: Arseni Kikiniou over Yehor Tarasenko (Ukraine)  5-1
 
71 kg
Round of 32: Vinit (India) over Dom Wilson  5-1
 
92 kg
Round of 32: David Calkins over Zong Wu (China)  9-0
Round of 16: David Calkins over Andrija Mikulic (Croatia)  3-1
Quarterfinals: Kanstantin Kasyan (Belarus) over David Calkins  7-5
Repechage: David Calkins vs. Raphael Rodrigues Duarte (Brazil)

 
Wednesday’s Gold Medal Matchups
45 kg: Nurkerim Kumarbekov (Kyrgyzstan) vs. Kuanyshbek Zhangazhol (Kazakhstan)
51 kg: Otabek Tursunov (Uzbekistan) vs. Hikmat Hagverdiyev (Azerbaijan)  
60 kg: Ali Nazarov (Azerbaijan) vs. Amangeldi Ysakbaev (Kyrgyzstan)  
71 kg: Behruzbek Valiev (Uzbekistan) vs. Dimitrios Soulis (Greece)
92 kg: Amirsam Mohammadi (Iran) vs. Kanstantin Kasyan (Belarus)
 
Final Medal Round Matches
48 kg
Gold Medal Match: Bunyod Hansanov (Uzbekistan) over Nurdaulet Kumaruly (Kazakhstan)  10-1
Bronze Medal Match: Michael Rundell over Kaisei Yamamoto (Japan)  12-6
Bronze Medal Match: Amirmohammad Hajivand (Iran) over Baris Soylu (Turkey)  12-3
 
55 kg
Gold Medal Match: Alkham Abdirasulov (Kyrgyzstan) over Nurali Askar (Kazakhstan)  4-1
Bronze Medal Match: Amirreza Tahmasbpour (Iran) over Aditya Gupta (India)  Fall 2:24
Bronze Medal Match: Makhdi Barotov (Tajikistan) over Nihat Bahmanov (Azerbaijan)  8-5
 
65 kg
Gold Medal Match: Janes Nazaryan (Armenia) over Erekle Tavberidza (Georgia)  5-4
Bronze Medal Match: Arseni Kikiniou over Yehor Tarasenko (Ukraine)  5-1
Bronze Medal Match: Dosbol Shamil (Kazakhstan) over Anuj  9-0
 
80 kg
Gold Medal Match: Abdulaziz Kholmirzaev (Uzbekistan) over Luka Martiashvili (Georgia)  Fall 3:49
Bronze Medal Match: Ismail Bereket (Turkiye) over Nijat Yeylagaliyev (Azerbaijan)  9-0
Bronze Medal Match: Nurislam Oskonbaev (Kyrgyzstan) over Taha Nouri (Iran)  3-1
 
110 kg
Gold Medal Match: Hardeep (India) over Yazdan Delrouz (Iran)  3-3
Bronze Medal Match: Temuri Simsive (Georgia) over Hu Nuerlebieke (China)  1-1
Bronze Medal Match: Anatolii Novachenko (Ukraine) over Emrullah Capkan (Turkiye)  5-1

This week we discuss Penn's huge $20 million donation, how NIL has changed sports and impacted wrestling, TJ Dudley being named the next head coach at Campbell and should Jax Forrest move on from high school wrestling?
Timestamps
0:00 - Intro
1:45 - Weigh In
10:22 - Penn gets $20 million donation
19:50 - NIL, rev share and it's impact on wrestling
34:43 - Rev share opt in and opt out
42:21 - Campbell elevates TJ Dudley to head coach
55:37 - Vito wrestling in Poland
1:02:42 - Should Jax Forrest leave high school wrestling?
1:10:00 - High School holdbacks: good or bad?

Action got underway today from the U17 World Championships, and Greco-Roman was the initial style. Half of the American Greco contingent saw the mats on day one. When the dust settled, all five Americans have been knocked out of the chase for gold, but three remain in repechage. With a couple of wins, they still can come home from Athens, Greece, with a bronze medal. 
Of the two Americans that have already been eliminated - Isai Fernandez (80 kg) and Alex Taylor (110 kbs), both were able to garner wins on the day. Each came via tech. 
At 55 kg and 65 kg, Alexander Pierce and Arseni Kikiniou, respectively, suffered losses in their round of 32 bouts, but managed to get pulled back into repechage. 
The lightest member of Monday’s group of five, Michael Rundell, managed to post a win and is still in medal contention. In his opening round match with Ukraine’s Artem Kolos, Rundell got to wok from the par terre position after Kolos was deemed to be passive in the opening stanza. That opportunity was all Rundell needed as he secured a head pinch and exposed Kolos four times for a 9-0 tech. 
The remainder of the Greco-Roman weights will start their tournament on Tuesday morning. Before they get going, the wrestlers in repechage will continue their quest towards bronze medals. 

Below are the results for the Americans on day one, plus their repechage opponents, and the gold medal match at their weight. 
 
48 kg 
Round of 16: Michael Rundell over Artem Kolos (Ukraine)  10-0
Quarterfinals: Nurdaulet Kumaruly (Kazakhstan) over Michael Rundell  8-0
Repechage: Michael Rundell vs. Gurban Majnunov (Azerbaijan)
 
Finals Matchup: Nurdaulet Kumaruly (Kazakhstan) vs. Bunyod Hansanov (Uzbekistan)
 
55 kg
Round of 32: Nurali Askar (Kazakhstan) over Alexander Pierce  8-4
Repechage: Alexander Pierce vs. Lavozier Wadik Maruso (Brazil)
 
Finals Matchup: Nurali Askar (Kazakhstan) vs. Alkham Abdirasulov (Kyrgyzstan) 
 
65 kg
Round of 32: Janes Nazaryan (Armenia) over Arseni Kikiniou  4-1
Repechage: Arseni Kikiniou vs. Huseyn Isgandarov (Azerbaijan
 
Finals Matchup: Huseyn Isgandarov (Azerbaijan) vs. Erekle Tavberidze (Georgia)
 
80 kg
Round of 32: Isai Fernandez over Valentin Valentinov (Bulgaria)  10-0
Round of 16: Nurislam Oskonbaev (Kyrgyzstan) over Isai Fernandez  5-1

 
Finals Matchup: Luka Martiashvili (Georgia) vs. Abdulaziz Kholmirzev (Uzbekistan)
 
110 kg
Round of 32: Alex Taylor over Essam Hussein (Egypt)  10-1
Round of 16: Denis Lazarov (Bulgaria) over Alex Taylor  3-3
 
Finals Matchup: Yazdan Delrouz (Iran) vs. Hardeep (India)