Wrestling World Cup recap: USA men, Ukraine women win championships on Day Two in Coralville

Cody Goodwin, Des Moines Register
·7 min read

CORALVILLE, Ia. — Happy Sunday from Xtream Arena. The UWW men's and women's freestyle World Cup wrapped up today. It was a blast.

After a wild, full, thrilling first day of competition, both the U.S. men's and women's freestyle teams advanced to Sunday's placement dual meets. The USA men's freestyle team went 3-0 and beat Iran in the World Cup final for its 15th World Cup championship all-time. The USA women's team finished 1-2 and took fourth.

Here are Sunday's full results:

  • Women’s Freestyle, 3rd Place Match: Mongolia over USA, 7-3

  • Men’s Freestyle, 3rd Place Match: All-World Team over Georgia, 8-2

  • Women’s Freestyle, Final: Ukraine over China, 6-4

  • Men’s Freestyle, Finals: USA over Iran, xxx

We provided updates all day long. Scan for the quick results, plus some notes and observations, from Sunday's action.

From Saturday:Day One takeaways from the UWW men's and women's freestyle World Cup

Men's Freestyle, World Cup Final

United States 6, Iran 4

  • 57-kg: Zane Richards (USA) over Reza Momeni (IRI), 6-2

  • 61-kg: Seth Gross (USA) tech. fall Ebrahim Elahi (IRI), 10-0

  • 65-kg: Rahman Amouzad (IRI) over Yianni Diakomihalis (USA), 5-4

  • 70-kg: Alec Pantaleo (USA) over Amirmohammad Yazdani (IRI), 4-3

  • 74-kg: Mohmmadsadegh Firouzpour (IRI) over Jason Nolf (USA), 2-1

  • 79-kg: Ali Savadkouhi (IRI) over Jordan Burroughs (USA), 6-6

  • 86-kg: Zahid Valencia (USA) over Alireza Karimi (IRI), 5-3

  • 92-kg: Nate Jackson (USA) over Amir Firouz (IRI), 8-4

  • 97-kg: Kyle Snyder (USA) over Kamran Ghasempour (IRI), 5-0

  • 125-kg: Amirreza Masoumi Vala (IRI) over Hayden Zillmer (USA), 6-1

Notes/Observations: The U.S. men's freestyle team wins the World Cup for the 15th time — and it marks the United States' fifth men's freestyle World Cup title where they beat Iran in the finals.

Team USA caps a perfect 3-0 weekend by taking down second-seeded Iran, 6-4, in an exceptional championship dual. Seven of the 10 matches were decided by four points or less — and three were decided by a single point and one was even decided by criteria.

USA stormed out to a 3-1 lead, highlighted by Alec Pantaleo's 4-3 win over Yazdani, a 2021 world silver medalist. But Iran stormed back to tie, thanks to Firouzpour's 2-1 win over Jason Nolf at 74-kg and Ali Savadkouhi's 6-6 criteria win over Jordan Burroughs.

But the U.S. closed it down with three-consecutive wins from Zahid Valencia, Nate Jackson, and Kyle Snyder to officially clinch the World Cup. Snyder officially clinched it with a 5-0 win over two-time world champion Kamran Ghasempour, who bumped up from 92-kg. Snyder clinched the World Cup final for the U.S. in 2018, too.

Women's Freestyle, World Cup Final

Ukraine 6, China 4

  • 50-kg: Oksana Livach (UKR) over Jiang Zhu (CHN), 4-4

  • 53-kg: Li Deng (CHN) over Albina Rillia (UKR), 2-1

  • 55-kg: Alina Hrushyna Akobiia (UKR) over Qianyu Pang (CHN), 4-1

  • 57-kg: Yuliia Tkach Ostapchuk (UKR) pinned Yongxin Feng (CHN) in 1:29

  • 59-kg: Qi Zhang (CHN) over Iryna Bondar (UKR), 7-2

  • 62-kg: Iryna Koliadenko (UKR) pinned Xinyuan Sun (CHN) in 2:15

  • 65-kg: Jia Long (CHN) pinned Kateryna Zelenykh (UKR) in 5:58

  • 68-kg: Tetiana Sova Rizhko (UKR) over Yue Han (CHN), 5-4

  • 72-kg: Qiandegenchagan (CHN) over Alla Belinska (UKR), 9-1

  • 76-kg: Anastasiia Shustova (UKR) over Juan Wang (CHN), 9-5

Notes/Observations: An amazing back-and-forth dual meet ends with Ukraine winning its first-ever UWW women's freestyle World Cup title. Behind pins from Ostapchuk and Koliadenko — Ostapchuk ran a bar-arm; Koliadenko used a cradle — Ukraine never trailed and ultimately tops a red-hot China squad to win, 6-4.

Considering everything going on in Ukraine, this team triumph makes for a magnificent story, maybe the best story of the weekend. This Ukraine team collectively wrestled their hearts out, toppling the third-place Mongolia squad, 7-3, and knocking out six-time defending champion Japan, 5-5 (24-17), in Saturday's group action, then not only recording two pins, but winning their other four matches all by four points or less to take down China.

What a team. What a story. What a weekend for this Ukraine women's freestyle team. World Cup champions!

Women's Freestyle, Third-Place Match

Mongolia 7, United States 3

  • 50-kg: Otgonjargal Dolgorjav (MGL) pinned Erin Golston (USA) in 4:44

  • 53-kg: Otgonjargal Ganbaatar (MGL) tech. fall Felicity Taylor (USA), 12-1

  • 55-kg: Bolortuya Bat Ochir (MGL) over Jenna Burkert (USA), 7-6

  • 57-kg: Alex Hedrick (USA) over Erdenesuvd Bat Erdene (MGL), 6-4

  • 59-kg: Davaachimeg Erkhembayar (MGL) tech. fall Lexie Basham (USA), 13-2

  • 62-kg: Tserenchimed Sukhee (MGL) tech. fall Kayla Miracle (USA), 16-5

  • 65-kg: Orkhon Purevdorj (MGL) over Mallory Velte (USA), 9-6

  • 68-kg: Solin Piearcy (USA) over Purevsuren Ulziisaikhan (MGL), 2-0

  • 72-kg: Davaanasan Enk Amar (MGL) over Skylar Grote (USA), 7-1

  • 76-kg: Dymond Guilford (USA) tech. fall Burmaa Ochirbat (MGL), 10-0

Notes/Observations: Bummer of a performance from the U.S. women to round out World Cup competition, but this Mongolia squad is tough, with eight total Senior world medalists. Mongolia won 27-16 in classification points and sealed the dual by winning six of the first seven weights, including one by fall and three by technical fall. Burkert and Velte both lost back-and-forth matches. Miracle led 5-2, then injured her wrist and gave up 14 unanswered to lose by TF.

Hedrick provided an awesome highlight by rallying from down 4-0 in the first period to win 5-4 on a last-second step-out over Bat Erdene, who took fifth in the world last year. Piearcy muscled out a 2-0 win over a U23 world silver medalist on a pair of shot-clock points. Dymond Guilford closed the dual with a dominant 10-0 technical fall over Burmaa Ochirbat, a 40-year-old three-time world medalist who wrestled in the 2004 Olympics, the first that included women's freestyle wrestling. Cool bit of history there, courtesy of (who else?) Jason Bryant.

Men's Freestyle, Third-Place Match

All-World Team 8, Georgia 2

  • 57-kg: Zelimkhan Abakarov (Albania) over Beka Bujiashvili (GEO), 4-1

  • 61-kg: Georgi Vangelov (Bulgaria) over Teimuraz Vanishvili (GEO) by injury default

  • 65-kg: Taiyrbek Zhumashbek Uulu (Kyrgyzstan) tech. fall Beka Lomtadze (GEO), 14-4

  • 70-kg: Ernazar Akmataliev (Kyrgyzstan) over Giorgi Elbakidze (GEO), 4-3

  • 74-kg: Tajmuraz Salkazanov (Slovakia) tech. fall Giorgi Sulava (GEO), 10-0

  • 79-kg: Vladimeri Gamkrelidze (GEO) tech. fall Arsalan Budazhapov (Kyrgyzstan), 12-2

  • 86-kg: Azamat Dauletbekov (Kazakhstan) over Sandro Aminashvili (GEO), 6-1

  • 92-kg: Osman Nurmagomedov (Azerbaijan) over Miriani Maisuradze (GEO), 3-0

  • 97-kg: Batyrbek Tsakulov (Slovakia) over Givi Matcharashvili (GEO), 7-7

  • 125-kg: Soloman Manashvili (GEO) over Oleksandr Khotsianivskyi (Ukraine) by injury default

Notes/Observations: The All-World men's freestyle team thumped Georgia, 8-2, though the classification point score, 29-14 in favor of the All-World Team, revealed a bit of a closer matchup. Both sides won a match by injury default, but the All-World Team also won four matches by three points or fewer, at 57, 70, 92, and 97. Those swing matches, combined with their technical fall wins at 65, 74, and 79, helped them run away with this one.

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Cody Goodwin covers wrestling and high school sports for the Des Moines Register. Follow him on Twitter at @codygoodwin.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Wrestling World Cup recap, as USA men, Ukraine women win team titles