GFA’s Burrell is still alive at U23 world championships
Former GFA wrestler Stephen Burrell, Jr., is still alive in the U23 world championship tournament. (Photos courtesy Steve Fulco)
LAS VEGAS, Nevada, Oct. 16, 2026 – Two wrestlers with Connecticut ties picked up victories in Friday’s U23 world championship tournament as men’s freestyle competition got underway.
Stephen Burrell, Jr., who wrestled at Westport’s Greens Farms Academy in Westport and trains at Bridgeport-based South Side Wrestling Club, went 1-1 in competition at 92 kilograms and remains alive in Saturday’s repechage with a chance to win a medal.
Burrell, a student at the University of Virginia, is representing Jamica.
Danbury’s Matt Lopes, a student at Lehigh and wrestling for Brazil, went 1-1 at 61 kilograms and has been eliminated.
Fairfield’s Donell Young, a student at the University of Scranton is competing at 79 kg and representing El Salvador. His tournament begins on Saturday.
Burrell won his preliminary round match with an 11-0 win by technical fall in 59 seconds over Mexico’s Leonardo Tovar Garcia. But Burrell dropped his second bout to Iran’s Abolfazi Rahmani Firouzjaei by technical fall, 11-1 in 3:17.
Because Firouzjaei won two additional bouts to reach the final at 92 kg, Burrell will get a second chance to compete in the repechage against Georiga’s Sando Kurashivili with the winner advancing to the bronze medal match.
Lopes beat Georgia’s Nika Zangaladze, 8-6, in his initial match of the tournament before dropping a 10-7 decision to Japan’s Akito Mukaida.
Two Americans reached gold medal matches in the first of two days of freestyle wrestling at the U23 world championships. Ben Davino (61kg) and Jayden James (74) will wrestle for gold on Saturday.
In the final matches of the women’s freestyle tournament, 2026 Senior world team member Cristelle Rodriguez-Dobler (53 kg) of the United States collected her second career age-group world title on Friday night.
Rodriguez-Dobler, who won the 2024 U20 world title, needed just one scoring move and 55 seconds to win her second world title. She kept a strong underhook on two-time age-group world medalist Sevval Cayir of Türkiye, tossed her for four, and immediately picked up the fall to win the 53 kg title.
In the 62 kg gold medal match, 2026 Senior World Team member Adaugo Nwachukwu gave up an early takedown, and two-time age-group world champion Iryna Bondar of Ukraine took advantage with four turns to seal the 10-0 technical fall. Reese Larramendy (65 kg) capped off the night for Team USA with a bronze. Larramendy took the early lead with a four-point maneuver on a strong double-leg attack. She never looked back and defeated Ayse Erkan of Türkiye, 10-4.
In the team standings, the U.S. finished second overall with 117 points, led by six total medals, tying first-place Ukraine for the most in the field. Ukraine won the team title with 147 points, scoring in nine of the 10 weight classes. Japan rounded out the top three with 108 points.
Material from USA Wrestling used to compile this report