Schultz, Young and Nowry out in Astana, US Greco down to Peak
Only Ben Peak is still alive from the first seven American Greco entries, and he needs help to get there.
Team USA's Greco squad in Astana is down to one live wrestler from its first seven entries. Justin Basch reported that six of the seven Americans who have wrestled at the World Championships are already eliminated, with Cohlton Schultz, Tim Young and Max Nowry all going out in the same session.
Schultz, the 130kg entry, lost 1-1 on criteria to Mohamed of Egypt and finished 0-1. Young went out at 97kg in his first match, 4-3 to Mandic of Croatia, also 0-1. Nowry got a win at 55kg but was teched 7-0 by Lalit of India in repechage to close out 1-2.
Peak is the one still breathing
Ben Peak went 1-1 at 72kg, beating Liavonchyk of Belarus 4-1 before dropping a 5-4 match to Goriaev of Russia. That leaves him in the familiar waiting room. Per Basch, Peak needs Goriaev to beat Sohrabi of Iran in the semifinals, around 7:55am ET, to get pulled into repechage. Nothing Peak does on the mat changes that, it is entirely on the Russian.
Basch summed up the morning plainly.
Three more to go
Xavier Johnson, Otto Black and Beka Melelashvili wrestle tomorrow, and they are what is left of the American Greco tournament outside of Peak's repechage math. Three entries, one day, and a team medal count that currently sits at zero through the first seven.
Our take: the pattern here is not blowouts. Schultz lost on criteria in a 1-1 match, Young lost by one, Peak lost by one. Only the Nowry repechage loss was lopsided. That is a team losing a lot of very close decisions in a row rather than getting physically beaten, which is a thin distinction when the result column reads the same.
What to watch: the Goriaev versus Sohrabi semifinal at 72kg, which decides whether Peak gets another match or goes home with the rest. Then Johnson, Black and Melelashvili tomorrow, the last chance for an American Greco medal in Astana.
Another rough morning for Team USA Greco in Astana.
Of Team USA's 7 Greco guys who have gone, 6 are already eliminated.
Know it before the group chat does
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