Jayden James U17 World Championships Day 1 results: Penn State wrestling commit to wrestle for gold Sunday

UPDATE: Jayden James is a U17 World Champion. Click here to see how he won gold at 71 kilograms in Greece.

Original story:

Penn State wrestling Class of 2026 commit Jayden James will wrestle for a gold medal on Sunday at the U17 World Championships in Athens, Greece. The Delbarton, N.J., native and reigning 150-pound Garden State champ had a massive opening day on Saturday in the 71-kilogram (156.5 pounds) division. He cruised through his first three matches before pinning Armenia’s Yeghishe Mosesyan, who is a two-time U15 European champion, in the semifinals. James led that match on criteria 5-5 before decking his opponent with a slick move at 3:38.

James’ opponent in the first place match is Arsham Mostafa Vahabian Kandbon of Iran in the final on Sunday. He had much closer matches en route to the finals. James, meanwhile, beat his first three opponents by a combined score of 24-7 before pinning Mosesyan.

The gold medal round starts at 11 a.m. ET on Sunday.

More on James’ tournament

Here’s what USA Wrestling wrote about the Penn State commit’s work on the mat before the semifinals:

“At 71 kg, Jayden James, two-time Fargo champion and U17 Pan-American gold medalist, looked sharp throughout his day. In the opening round, he dominated Georgia’s Koba Goguadze, the 2025 U17 European bronze medalist, with a 12-2 technical fall. James set the tone early with a takedown and displayed excellent scrambling ability, capitalizing with low leg and ankle attacks. He followed that up in the second round by overwhelming Rashad Veysalov of Azerbaijan, earning another technical fall victory. In the quarterfinals, James shut out Uzbekistan’s Farrukhbek Jumanazarov 6-0, looking crafty from the mat and creating scoring opportunities. He will now face Armenia’s Yeghishe Mosesyan, a two-time U15 European champion, in the semifinals.”

Penn State wrestling looks to claim its first World gold of the year

James could be the first Nittany Lion connection to take home gold. He will certainly not be the last one to earn a medal on the World stage over the next couple of months. Penn State is represented on every Team USA left competing in other age-group World Championships. Here is the list:

World Wrestling Championships (Sept. 13 – 21 in Zagreb, Croatia)

PSU ties on Team USA include incoming freshman PJ Duke (70 kilograms), senior Levi Haines (79 kilograms), and NLWC member Kyle Snyder (97 kilograms)

U23 World Wrestling Championships (Oct. 20-26 in Serbia)

Penn State ties include:

57 kg – Luke Lilledahl (St. Charles, Mo./Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC)

65 kg – Marcus Blaze (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg WC/Titan Mercury WC)

70 kg – PJ Duke (Slate Hill, N.Y./KD Training Center)

74 kg – Mitchell Mesenbrink (Bellefonte, Pa./Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC)

79 kg – Levi Haines (Arendtsville, Pa./Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC)

86 kg – Rocco Welsh (Fredericktown, Pa./Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC)

92 kg – Josh Barr (Davison, Mich./Nittany Lion WC/Titan Mercury WC)

U20 World Wrestling Championships (Aug. 14-18 in Bulgaria)

PSU ties include incoming freshmen Marcus Blaze (61 kilograms), PJ Duke (70 kilograms), and William Henckel (79 kilograms), plus redshirt freshmen Connor Mirasola (92 kilograms), and Cole Mirasola (125 kilograms)