'26 U20 World Championships (8/16 - 23) thread

[Nitlion1986]

Very strange?? looked gassed? US guys never gas

Not sure he gassed as much as Japan didn't gas.

 

[Sunshine88!]

Geez wiz. Jayden went all defense the last 1:30 seconds. Definitely a learning match he’ll never forget. Think he wins that match with Cael and Casey in his corner.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tryingtodoitright]

Things that surprised me throughout the tournament.

How awful the officiating was on days with both Greco and Womens.

The difference in replay between the younger guy and DJ Slow

James' strategy in the finals.

Boyle's strength.

Taina Fernandez running into issues against strong hips.

The gap between some of Japanese women and the field Kasume and Onishi especially

That no one commented on me renaming Landon Robideau to Lewan Robideau in pbp

I figured me, perhaps like most, were afraid to say anything

 

[Coastal2]

After going 10 for 10 in medals in free, the scariest thing for the rest of the world is that this wasn't even the US' best U20 team possible.

 

[zzs006]

I’m telling yall. Jason Welch reincarnated, but without the drugs/partying.

I really really like that comparison. I wouldn’t have thought of it but once you said it I see it for sure

 

[BriantheLion]

You’re not wrong. On a whole, wrestlers refuse to wear appropriately sized suits.

They must have been measured at their offseason walking around weight!

 

[PennState1985]

The only rule is don't be an *** and edit a result before the pbp post.

Not how Slippery Pete would have handled this.

 

[Goldbanger]

After going 10 for 10 in medals in free, the scariest thing for the rest of the world is that this wasn't even the US' best U20 team possible.

Couldn't agree more.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[El_Jefe]

That no one commented on me renaming Landon Robideau to Lewan Robideau in pbp

Probably because everybody agrees.

 

[Lil Nicky Scarfo]

Probably because everybody agrees.

Cody Merrill (not) catching strays.

Not to mention Dee, Ryder and Facundo.

Not the most active bonus point scorers.

Currently they are holding onto the notion that we score so many BPs because our eAsY sChEdUlE gives us artificially inflated seeds and we can feast on 32/33 in the bracket. As if bonusing, say, seed 28/29 (and 11/12 in round 2) instead of 32/33 and 16/17 is near impossible. None of those guys I named convinced me that they would all of a sudden turn into bonus point machines with better seeds

 

[Psalm 1 guy]

He won U17 last year and he's 17 right now, so I think he actually has 2 more years U20.

He does have two more U20s available, but he turned 18 in June per USA Wrestling.

 

[Coastal2]

He does have two more U20s available, but he turned 18 in June per USA Wrestling.

I would wager that he does U20 next year and '28 depends upon the Olympic qualification schedule and how it may conflict with U20 qualification.

I see James as the only U20 eligible that will be competitive for the Olympic team. Boyle will still be U20 eligible but I can't see him being competetive with Snyder or Brooks.

The only other one would be if Wax grew enough to be competitive in GR.

 

[lionlover]

Not sure he gassed as much as Japan didn't gas.

I still am stunned as to how high Japan has elevated their freestyle excellence in such a relatively short time.

 

[Psalm 1 guy]

I think it is sad that Iowa's HR U20 thread and Oklahoma State's 34 and counting U20 thread only have a combined 124 posts compared to the 936 posts here. Intermat's U20 thread did rack up nearly 800 posts, but it would be nice to see more freestyle interest among college wrestling fans in general.

 

[Sir Pin Alot]

I think it is sad that Iowa's HR U20 thread and Oklahoma State's 34 and counting U20 thread only have a combined 124 posts compared to the 936 posts here. Intermat's U20 thread did rack up nearly 800 posts, but it would be nice to see more freestyle interest among college wrestling fans in general.

Iowa does have 400 posts on sugar cereals. It was a very guilty pleasure of mine as a kid so I also indulged in the conversation.

 

[namenoonechose]

Iowa does have 400 posts on sugar cereals. It was a very guilty pleasure of mine as a kid so I also indulged in the conversation.

I’ll tell you how weird they are, they never even mentioned Cookie Crisps.

 

[Corby2]

He does have two more U20s available, but he turned 18 in June per USA Wrestling.

James and Boyle have 2 more years at U20. Mastny and Ross have 1 more year. The other 6 guys are done with U20. Boyle is still 17 he will be 18 in a couple weeks

 

[Coastal2]

I think it is sad that Iowa's HR U20 thread and Oklahoma State's 34 and counting U20 thread only have a combined 124 posts compared to the 936 posts here. Intermat's U20 thread did rack up nearly 800 posts, but it would be nice to see more freestyle interest among college wrestling fans in general.

Intermat only gets that high because D3 doesn't edit pbp. Every move is a different post. This thread would have hit 5k if I did it that way.

 

[TwoJoints]

Cody Merrill (not) catching strays.

Not to mention Dee, Ryder and Facundo.

Not the most active bonus point scorers.

Currently they are holding onto the notion that we score so many BPs because our eAsY sChEdUlE gives us artificially inflated seeds and we can feast on 32/33 in the bracket. As if bonusing, say, seed 28/29 (and 11/12 in round 2) instead of 32/33 and 16/17 is near impossible. None of those guys I named convinced me that they would all of a sudden turn into bonus point machines with better seeds

Does having 6 or 7 tournament champions in the best wrestling conference in the country have any impact on our NCAA tournament seeds?

 

[Headlock]

I wrote about Yoshida's underhook prior to the match along with his conditioning. Unfortunately, both came back to bite Jayden. I am confused, though, that in that last sequence Jayden let go of his grip on Yoshida's leg to go to the chest wrap. It looked like keeping his grip was the better option at that time.

Absolutely correct!

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

Team Standings At The 2026 U20 World Wrestling Championships - FloWrestling

Team standings for Greco-Roman wrestling at the 2026 U20 World Championships, held in Bratislava, Slovakia.

www.flowrestling.org

 

[vhsalum]

I still am stunned as to how high Japan has elevated their freestyle excellence in such a relatively short time.

2013 U17s.

From what it sounds like, from people who would know - they figured out weightlifting.

So combine that with their absolutely samurai -like training, they’ll now be consistently a team threat.

These guys are practicing 363-365 days a year. And it’s not replicable by any modern nation. Practices are 1 to 1.5 hour of drilling, 1.5 hours of live. Every day.

Don’t expect long careers, but they will always be ready out of the gate.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

USA Wrestling Results At the 2026 U20 World Championships - FloWrestling

Results for USA Wrestling at the 2026 U20 World Championships taking place in Bratislava, Slovakia, from August 16 through August 23.

www.flowrestling.org

 

[Nitlion1986]

Cody Merrill (not) catching strays.

Not to mention Dee, Ryder and Facundo.

Not the most active bonus point scorers.

Currently they are holding onto the notion that we score so many BPs because our eAsY sChEdUlE gives us artificially inflated seeds and we can feast on 32/33 in the bracket. As if bonusing, say, seed 28/29 (and 11/12 in round 2) instead of 32/33 and 16/17 is near impossible. None of those guys I named convinced me that they would all of a sudden turn into bonus point machines with better seeds

Missouri kids have historically been granted seeds, that at the tournament have been proven too high. The Missouri records that earned those seeds were obtained wrestling in the same conference as Okie St.

Cael's teams typically wrestle pretty darn close to their seeds.

PSU's 20 bonus point advantage only widens the gap between PSU and OkieSt. If they only awarded advancement and placement points PSU still finishes first and OkieSt finishes somewhere behind PSU.

As Spencer so famously stated, excuses are for wusses. Spencer was letting us know what to expect when Oklahoma State finally stepped up to fill the position of second best program.

Facts are a pain in the rear for stupid arguments presented by stupid people.

 

[Psalm 1 guy]

I wrote about Yoshida's underhook prior to the match along with his conditioning. Unfortunately, both came back to bite Jayden. I am confused, though, that in that last sequence Jayden let go of his grip on Yoshida's leg to go to the chest wrap. It looked like keeping his grip was the better option at that time.

In reviewing the sequence in slow motion, you can see Jayden distract himself by looking toward the clock right as he releases his grip from Yoshida's legs, but doesn't go immediately into a chest wrap. About a second and a half later, Jayden looks at the clock again while his left arm hangs loose. In that split second before Jayden went to the chest lock, Yoshida made his move, catching Jayden without a solid grip on his chest wrap. The difference between winning and losing can be that minute!

I give a lot of credit to Yoshida. Overall, he outwrestled Jayden. His constant pressure put Jayden on the defensive, especially in the second period. Also, it just goes to show how critical conditioning is. If Yoshida is just slightly less conditioned, I am not sure he would have had the energy to get that last TD.

There are a lot of things Jayden can take away from that match. I have no doubt that loss will do more for him in the long run than eking out a win and potentially not taking away the needed lessons on what areas he needs to improve. I'm still super excited to watch Jayden's career unfold.

 

[Dogwelder]

I still am stunned as to how high Japan has elevated their freestyle excellence in such a relatively short time.

Masa Ono has been sending Cael’s secrets back to Japan using carrier pigeons and telegraph Morse code!

 

[Hotshoe]

Does it matter if he is enrolled part time or full time?

Pretty sure it's full time, 12 credits. Additionally, if you're competing at all, and only attending classes part time, your clock starts.

 

[gabletrained1990]

In reviewing the sequence in slow motion, you can see Jayden distract himself by looking toward the clock right as he releases his grip from Yoshida's legs, but doesn't go immediately into a chest wrap. About a second and a half later, Jayden looks at the clock again while his left arm hangs loose. In that split second before Jayden went to the chest lock, Yoshida made his move, catching Jayden without a solid grip on his chest wrap. The difference between winning and losing can be that minute!

I give a lot of credit to Yoshida. Overall, he outwrestled Jayden. His constant pressure put Jayden on the defensive, especially in the second period. Also, it just goes to show how critical conditioning is. If Yoshida is just slightly less conditioned, I am not sure he would have had the energy to get that last TD.

There are a lot of things Jayden can take away from that match. I have no doubt that loss will do more for him in the long run than eking out a win and potentially not taking away the needed lessons on what areas he needs to improve. I'm still super excited to watch Jayden's career unfold.
View attachment 1404801

I had posted earlier that James is just so good and I think becomes nearly unstoppable with some additional PSU room seasoning - (he mentioned he trained with Ono, Duke, Zain and Nolf to prepare for U20s - whoosh). As another posted pointed out though and maybe makes me temper full unbridled optimism, if he is walking around at like 162 and wrestles 174, that’s a decent chunk of weight to be giving up at this level. Obviously PSU/Cael will figure it all out, just observing an obvious potential obstacle for James to negotiate this season if 174 is indeed the plan.

 

[vhsalum]

I had posted earlier that James is just so good and I think becomes nearly unstoppable with some additional PSU room seasoning - (he mentioned he trained with Ono, Duke, Zain and Nolf to prepare for U20s - whoosh). As another posted pointed out though and maybe makes me temper full unbridled optimism, if he is walking around at like 162 and wrestles 174, that’s a decent chunk of weight to be giving up at this level. Obviously PSU/Cael will figure it all out, just observing an obvious potential obstacle for James to negotiate this season if 174 is indeed the plan.

Not to mention he's a legit 74kg threat for 2028!

 

[Tom McAndrew]