By Richard Immel
USA Wrestling

NOVI SAD, Serbia – The semifinal round didn’t go as planned for Olympian Payton Jacobson. He was upended 9-0 by Gholamreza Farokhisenjani of Iran, the reigning Senior World champion at 82 kg, and will drop into a bronze medal match at 87 kg. 

A rather even pummel to start the match saw Jacobson get hit for the first passivity and put underneath midway through the first period. Farokhisenjani was able to cinch up a trapped-arm gut off the par terre whistle and end the match with four turns. 

The loss doesn’t diminish Jacobson’s impressive morning session where he earned sound wins over Rohit Bura of India, Gabriel Lupasco of Moldova and Zaur Shangereev of UWW. 

Now sitting in the bronze medal round, Jacobson awaits the repechage winner from the trio of Lachin Valiyev of Azerbaijan, Murodjon Alimjanov of Uzbekistan and Leon Rivalta of Italy. On paper, Valiyev is the likeliest opponent for Jacobson as a two-time age-group World medalist and U23 European bronze medalist. 

Two-time U20 World bronze medalist Aden Attao and recent Valamar Cup silver medalist Aydin Rix McElhinney entered the semifinal session with repechage hopes intact. Rix McElhinney found himself on the positive end of the 77 kg results and gets a chance to wrestle back for bronze. Unfortunately for Attao, his run in Serbia ended one win short of a repechage opportunity at 130 kg. 

Rix McElhinney needs two wins tomorrow morning to reach the bronze medal match. His path leads through three-time age-group World medalist Alexandru Solovei of Moldova and Karl Baff of Sweden. 

63 kg entrant Kaden Ercanbrack wrapped up his first age-group World Championships experience with a 0-1 record and was eliminated from medal contention in the morning session. 

The tournament continues at 10 a.m. local time on Tuesday with the Greco-Roman group one (63-77-87-130 kg) repechage and Greco-Roman group two (55-67-72-97 kg) prelims. Americans Kenneth Crosby, Otto Black, Aliaksandr Kikiniou and Max Ramberg step on the mats for the first time tomorrow. Novi Sad, Serbia, is located six hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time. 

The U23 World Championships are streaming live on FloWrestling.com to the U.S. market. Brackets and updated results can be found on UWW Arena.