Ismail KHANIEV of Russia won his fourth gold medal in a row at the U20 World Championships while Sandro KURASHVILI won a gold medal for Georgia after 13 years.

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (August 22) – Barring the loss in the final of the Ivan Yarygin tournament at the start of the year, Ismail KHANIEV (RUS) has won gold medals at every tournament he has participated in.

He won golds at U23 European Championships, Ulaanbaatar Open, U20 European Championships and on Saturday, he added 79kg gold at the U20 World Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia by defeating Asian champion Keyvan GHAREHDAGI (JPN), 8-0 in the final.

Khaniev, who won the gold medal at 74kg gold last year, wrestled five matches and outscored his opponents 50-2 to capture his second gold medal.

"This is my second year in a row winning the World Championships," Khaniev said. "But last time, the emotions were a bit better. It's not the first time, so it was a bit easier [this year]. Last year, the bouts were tougher and the emotions were also stronger."

Wrestling Ismail KHANIEV (RUS) Ismail KHANIEV (RUS) tries to complete a takedown against Keyvan GHAREHDAGI (JPN) during the 79kg final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Jake Kirkman)

Gharehdagi made news in April when he defeated Olympic champion Razambek JAMALOV (UZB) at the Asian Championships. But he failed to replicate that performance.

Khaniev opened the scoring in the final with a stepout before adding two more and one point for caution to build a 4-0 lead. He kept his double underhook grip and pushed Gharehdagi towards the zone before completing a takedown to extend the lead to 6-0 at the break.

The second period did no see much action but Khaniev caught Gharehdagi from behind in the dying seconds of the bout and scored another takedown to make the score 8-0.

Wrestling Ismail KHANIEV (RUS) Ismail KHANIEV (RUS) is now a two-time U20 world champion. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Both Gharehdagi and Khaniev are scheduled to compete at the senior World Championships in Astana. Khaniev has he is excited to be competing at the senior level.

"After I competed at the senior level, it's not the same emotions for U20," he said. "I'll be competing at the World Championships in Astana with only one goal: to win."

Wrestling Bowen BASSETT (USA) Bowen BASSETT (USA) hits a leg attack on Takuto OSEDA (JPN) during the 65kg final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Bassett Wins Gold

The United States had a mixed results in the two finals it was competing on Saturday. Former U17 world champion Bowen BASSETT (USA) added the U20 world title after winning the 65kg gold medal while Isaiah CORTEZ (USA) dropped his final at 57kg.

Bassett, a bronze medalist from the 2024 U20 World Championships, had lost to Masoto HOSOKAWA (JPN) in the semifinals the 2024 edition. As fate would have it, he defeated Takuto OSEDO (JPN) in the final to win the world title.

"My dreams were crushed in 2024 against the exact same country [Japan] in the semifinals," Bassett said. "I don't like to use the word waiting. I've been training for. I'm kind of somewhat on a vision quest to get back to that moment.

"There's a reason I got to wrestle Japan again. That's been my screensaver on my school Chromebook and my MacBook for the last two years. Every day when I open that up, I saw their flag. It was out of respect, but it was also for me to be able to light that fire every day. So being able to get back was awesome.

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The final began on a slow note and Osedo was put on the 30-second activity clock and Bassett went up 1-0 at the break as Osedo failed to score any points.

A minute into the second half, Bassett shot for Osedo's legs who used a counter lift to score two points before Bassett scored a reversal to make it 2-2 with Osedo leading on criteria. He then turned Osedo two times to extend his lead to 6-2.

Bassett continued his attacks and managed another leg-attack to score a takedown and lead 8-2. Osedo could not find the energy to make a comeback and the U.S. captured its third gold medal in Freestyle after two on Friday.

"I came into the tournament looking to just sprint every single match," Bassett said. "Not looking for an outcome, but looking to go in relentless pursuit for my goal and dream of being a world champion. A lot of hard work in the last five years. I wrestled five very good wrestling countries, so respect to those guys."

In the semifinals, Bassett pinned Zalimkhan UMAROV (RUS), his fourth win that did not go beyond the first period. Bassett takes pride in the hard work he has put to achieve the results.

"I just try to put the pace on guys and show all the hard work that I've been putting in," he said. "I try to go out there and, and just light up the scoreboard. The finals was a good showing that I can go six minutes really hard and I wasn't very tired coming off the mat."

Wrestling Magomed MAGOMEDOV (RUS) Magomed MAGOMEDOV (RUS) celebrates after defeated Isaiah CORTEZ (USA) in the 57kg final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Isaiah CORTEZ (USA) finished with a second silver medal at the U20 World Championships, two years after winning silver in Greco-Roman at the 2024 edition. Cortez opened the scoring when Magomed MAGOMEDOV (RUS) was put on the activity clock but did not score, giving one point to Cortez.

He then got on the leg-attack and rolled over Magomedov for two points but Cortez also got reversal but fell behind on criteria. Magomedov managed a hard-fought takedown to lead 4-2 at the break.

Cortez got on multiple attacks but failed to finish them while Magomedov managed two more takedown against Cortez's one to win 8-4 and win Russia's first gold medal in Freestyle.

Kurashvili Stuns Rahmani

The final bout of the day brought drama and history as Sandro KURASHVILI (GEO) used a body throw in the last one second to beat Abolfazl RAHMANI (IRI), 5-2, in the 92kg final. He became the first U20 world champion in Freestyle for Georgia after 13 years. Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) was the last U20 world champion for the country in 2013.

Rahmani, who was an emotional image after the loss, was in complete control of the bout till 5:54, leading 2-0. He had kept Kurashvili at distance and as the time ticked, Rahmani glanced at the clock.

Kurashvili used that slip in the concentration of Rahmani to lock him, including one of the arms, and threw him for four points with less than a second remaining to claim the gold medal 4-2.

Iran, despite knowing that there was time left for the throw, challenged the decision. In a quick review, it was a clear Rahmani fell and turned more than 90 degrees before time expired.