Wrestling World Championships: Forrest to Wrestle for Bronze, Valencia for Gold

Only a high schooler, Jax Forrest proved himself against the best the world has to offer on Saturday.

Forrest, a class of 2026 Oklahoma State commit, went 3-1 at the opening day of the World Championships, including a big win against one of the tournament favorites. Forrest made it to the semifinals before dropping a bout to Russia’s Zaur Uguev, who is a two-time world champion and an Olympic champion.

Forrest’s day started with a 10-0 win against Korea’s Sangboum Han, which set up a tricky match No. 2 against Japan’s Takara Suda.

Suda was one of the 61 kg favorites coming into the tournament. He won a ranking series event in February before rolling off wins at the Asian Championships and the Polyak Imre & Varga Janos Memorial. But Forrest cruised past the Japanese wrestler with a 7-2 win.

Forrest met Kyrgyzstan’s Taiyrek Zhumashbek Uulu, who won bronze at Worlds in 2023, in the quarters. Forrest beat him 13-8 to set up his semi with Uguev.

Forrest will wrestle for bronze on Sunday against the winner of Armenia’s Manvel Khndzrtsyan and Kazakhstan’s Asslyzhan Yessengeldi who will scrap earlier in the day.

Valencia Beats Ghasempour, Wrestling for Gold

Cowboy RTC athlete Zahid Valencia got perhaps the win of his international career to this point in his semifinal bout.

Valencia, who was a massive piece of the Cowboy RTC turning into what it has under David Taylor, beat Iran’s Kamran Ghasempour 7-0. The Iranian is a two-time world champ.

That bout came after Valencia rolled through his first three opponents by a combined score of 30-0. So through four matches against the best the world has to offer, the Taylor-coached Valencia has scored 37 points to his opponents’ zero.

This is just Valencia’s second World Championships after taking home bronze in 2023.

The job is not finished, though. He will wrestle Japan’s Hayato Ishiguro in the final on Sunday.

Hendrickson Drops Opening Bout

Wyatt Hendrickson’s World Championships ended after just one match. He lost to Abdulla Kurbanov 14-4, and results elsewhere meant he wasn’t pulled into the repechage. 

It’s a disappointing result, but what a year it has been for Hendrickson. He went unbeaten national champ to U.S. Open winner to World Team member.

Sunday

Along with Forrest going for bronze and Valencia going for gold, other Cowboy RTC athletes will start their Worlds journey on Sunday.

The 57 kg bracket will get going and features Rin Sakamoto (Japan) and Roman Bravo-Young (Mexico). Mirzo Khayitov will represent Uzbekistan in the 74 kg bracket, and he, too, trains out of Stillwater.

The event is streamed on Flo.