Cassioppi Wins Gold at U23 World Championships

BELGRADE, Serbia – University of Iowa junior Tony Cassioppi pinned Azamat Khosonov of Greece on Sunday to win the 125 kg gold medal at the 2021 U23 World Championships.

Cassioppi built a 13-0 lead before securing the fall with 16 seconds left in the first period. He is the United States’ second U23 World champion this year.  Emily Shilson took home gold for the United States at 50 kg in women’s freestyle

Cassioppi, a two-time freestyle Pan-American champion and two-time Hawkeye All-American, won three matches on Saturday to advance to the finals. In his four tournament wins, he won two matches by fall and outscored his four opponents, 38-8.

USA WRESTLING RECAP/RESULTS
125 kg: Anthony Cassioppi (Roscoe, Ill./Hawkeye WC)
WIN Martin Simonyan (Armenia), fall 5:55
WIN Paris Karepri (Albania), 7-0
WIN Saipudin Magomedov (Russia), 5-0
GOLD MEDAL MATCH: WIN Azamat Khosonov (Greece), 2:44

UPDATE NOVEMBER 6

BELGRADE, Serbia – University of Iowa junior Tony Cassioppi will wrestle for gold Sunday at 125 kg in the 2021 U23 World Championships after defeating Russia’s Saipudin Magomedov in Saturday’s semifinal round.

Cassioppi, a two-time freestyle Pan-American champion, cruised through his semifinal matchup with a 5-0 decision. Magomedov, a 2019 Junior European champion, could not get anything going against Cassioppi, who controlled the entire match and locked things up with a late go-behind score.

In tomorrow’s finals, Cassioppi will wrestle Greece’s Azamat Khosonov, who pinned Iran’s Seyedmehdi Hashemijouybari in his semifinal bout. Khosonov competed at the 2021 Senior World Championships in Oslo, where he finished 17th.

Cassioppi will look to become Team USA’s second U23 World champion this year. In women’s freestyle, Emily Shilson took home gold for the United States at 50 kg.

Sunday’s medal round begins at 6 p.m. local time in Belgrade,  11 a.m. (CT).

Hawkeye senior Myles Wilson went 1-1 at 86, winning 7-0 in the opening round before falling, 7-4, to Armenia’s Mher Markosyan.

USA WRESTLING RECAP/RESULTS
125 kg: Anthony Cassioppi (Roscoe, Ill./Hawkeye WC)
WIN Martin Simonyan (Armenia), fall 5:55
WIN Paris Karepri (Albania), 7-0
WIN Saipudin Magomedov (Russia), 5-0
Finals vs. Azamat Khosonov (Greece)

86 kg: Myles Wilson (Junction, Colo./Hawkeye WC)
WIN Cezary Sadowski (Poland), 7-0
LOSS Mher Markosyan (Armenia), 7-4

IOWA CITY, Iowa – University of Iowa wrestlers Tony Cassioppi and Myles Wilson compete Saturday and Sunday at the UWW U23 World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia. The 2021 U23 World Championships run Nov. 1-7 at Belgrade’s Belexpocentar.

Wilson is the United States men’s freestyle representative at 86 kg. Cassioppi is representing the men’s freestyle team at 125 kg.

Wilson and Cassioppi open the tournament Saturday at 4:30 a.m. (CT) with the men’s freestyle qualification rounds. The semifinals are Saturday at 10:45 a.m.

The repechage begins Sunday at 9 a.m. and the men’s freestyle finals are Sunday at 11 a.m.

A full schedule of events and live stream of the U23 World Championships is available at FloWrestling. Full brackets and more can be found in FloArena.

Wilson and Cassioppi qualified for the U23 World Championships by winning their respective brackets at the UWW U23 Nationals in May.

Cassioppi rolled through the first four rounds at 125 kg, outscoring his opponents 45-0 to advance to the best-of-three finals against Lucas Davisson. He won the opening match in the finals by fall in one minute, 28 seconds. Davisson won by tech. fall 14-4 in the second match, but Cassioppi responded with a 13-5 win in the rubber match to earn the title.

Wilson won the 86 kg title against Chris Foca, winning the first and third matches of the best-of-three finals, 6-1, 8-19, 5-4. He outscored his first four opponents 44-7 to advance to the championship.

2021 United States Men’s Freestyle Roster
57 kg: Pat Glory (Randolph, N.J./New Jersey RTC)
61 kg: Chris Cannon (Oceanport, N.J./Wildcat WC)
65 kg: Dom Demas (Columbus, Ohio/Oklahoma RTC)
70 kg: Brock Mauller (Columbia, Mo./Tiger Style WC)
74 kg: Peyton Robb (Owatonna, Minn./Nebraska Wrestling Training Center)
79 kg: Michael Labriola (Easton, Pa./Nebraska Wrestling Training Center)
86 kg: Myles Wilson (Junction, Colo./Hawkeye WC)
92 kg: Nino Bonaccorsi (Bethel Park, Pa./Pittsburgh WC)
97 kg: Jay Aiello (Chantilly, Va./Cavalier WC)
125 kg: Anthony Cassioppi (Roscoe, Ill./Hawkeye WC)