Four US Greco wrestlers teched in U23 quarterfinals
Kenneth Crosby, Landon Drury, Michael Altomer and Aden Attao all went out on the scoreboard in the same round.
Four American Greco wrestlers reached the quarterfinals at the U23 World Championships in Las Vegas and all four lost by tech fall, per USA Wrestling.
Kenneth Crosby was teched 10-0 by Barsbek Asankozhoev of Kyrgyzstan at 55 kg. Landon Drury lost 12-3 to Servet Angi of Turkey at 63 kg. Michael Altomer was shut out 9-0 by Martin Ljosaak of Norway at 87 kg, and Aden Attao was teched 8-0 by Jokhar Uzarov of Kazakhstan at 130 kg. USA Wrestling had posted the four of them in the same quarterfinal round earlier in the session, Crosby, Drury, Altomer and Attao spread across four mats.
The margins tell the story
Three of the four never scored. Drury was the only one of the group to put points on the board, and he still gave up 12. For a team that put five men into the Greco tournament, having every quarterfinalist go out on criteria-free tech falls in the same round is the kind of round that reshapes the medal math in a hurry.
The one American still moving forward on his own side of the bracket is Brett Back, who pinned his way into the quarterfinals at 72 kg.
For Crosby, Drury, Altomer and Attao, the path from here runs through repechage, which depends on their conquerors continuing to win. Asankozhoev, Angi, Ljosaak and Uzarov all advanced to the semifinals by virtue of those results, which is the one piece of good news attached to a 0-for-4 round.
Attao is the name most college fans will know from the heavyweight conversation, and 130 kg Greco is the weight where the US has had the least recent margin for error against Kazakhstan and the central Asian programs. Nobody from USA Wrestling has offered an explanation for the round beyond the results themselves.
What to watch: whether the four winners make their respective finals, which is what pulls the Americans back into repechage, and Back's quarterfinal at 72 kg as the last clean path to a US Greco medal in this tournament.
GR 55 kg QF – Barsbek Asankozhoev 🇰🇬 tech. fall Kenneth Crosby 🇺🇸, 10-0
GR 130 kg QF – Jokhar Uzarov 🇰🇿 tech. fall Aden Attao 🇺🇸, 8-0
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