Mizzou's Sinclair wrestling for gold at U20 Wrestling World Championships
After a solid outing, Mizzou wrestler Aeoden Sinclair is set to wrestle in the finals of the 2026 U20 Freestyle World Wrestling Championships on Friday in Bratislava, Slovakia.
Mizzou wrestler and All-American Aeoden Sinclair competes at the U20 Freestyle World Wrestling Championships on Thursday in Bratislava, Slovakia. Sinclair advanced to the finals, which take place Friday.
Aeoden Sinclair
Mizzou’s Aeoden Sinclair is set to wrestle for his second gold of the summer at the 2026 U20 Freestyle World Wrestling Championships on Friday in Bratislava, Slovakia.
The tournament kicked off Thursday with the 61-kilogram (around 134 pounds) and 85-kg (around 187 lbs) weight classes wrestling up until the medal matches. Sinclair represented the United States at the latter weight class.
After receiving a bye in the first round, he cruised to a 12-2 technical fall in his first match over Kazakhstan’s Askhab Khajiyev. The road got tougher from there.
Sinclair then faced Abolfazl Shamsipour Hajivand of Iran in the quarterfinals. The Tiger Style wrestler went down 1-0 with 1 minute, 14 seconds left in the first period but gained the lead just 14 seconds later, after earning the first takedown of the match. One takedown later, Sinclair took a 4-3 lead before a caution in the final seconds tied it 4-4.
With this being a freestyle tournament, Sinclair secured the win without an overtime as draws in freestyle go straight to criteria. Since he had the highest scoring move of the match, a two-point takedown, Sinclair moved on to the semifinals.
The MU wrestler defeated Natsura Okazawa of Japan 7-6 in another grueling match to advance to the finals. Down 6-0 in the first period, Sinclair scored seven unanswered points with two takedowns in the final 1:15.
After earning bronze at the NCAA Wrestling Championships in March, Sinclair has been hard at work during the freestyle season. He picked up gold at the 2026 U20 U.S. Open and is now looking for his second gold of the season.
Sinclair faces Russia’s Akhmad Mukotov in the finals sometime between 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. CST on Friday at the Sportova Hala Mladost in Bratislava. The Russian hasn’t trailed once in the tournament.
Incoming freshman Morales looks for strong start
Incoming freshman Mizzou wrestler Yandel Morales is also competing at the U20 Wrestling World Championships, and he is representing Puerto Rico in the 65-kg weight class (around 143 lbs).
Morales received a bye in the first round and will face either Bulgaria’s Aleksander Delchev or Saudi Arabia’s Abdullatif Albakri on Friday.