Minto Finishes Fifth at U23 Worlds

Nebraska’s Christopher Minto wrestled to a fifth-place finish at 79 kg for Jamaica at the U23 World Championships at the Thomas & Mack Center. Teammates Omar Ayoub (Puerto Rico, 65 kg) and LJ Araujo (Brazil, 74 kg) also competed in men’s freestyle for their countries of heritage.

Although relatively new to Olympic-style wrestling, Minto gained valuable experience this past summer at Real American Freestyle, which helped propel him to a successful showing at Worlds. 

Minto opened with a 4:15 technical fall over Israel’s Omer Barak. Facing the University of Penn’s wrestler later this season, Minto controlled the bout 12-1. In the round of 16, he fell by technical fall to Russia’s Said Saidulov, who advanced to the gold-medal match, which sent Minto to the repechage. There he beat Kazakhstan’s Yerkhan Abil on points and Germany’s Stas David Wolf by technical fall (5:36) to reach the bronze-medal match. Japan’s Kanata Yamaguchi won the bronze-medal bout by technical fall.

Ayoub opened with a points win over Hungary’s Zoltan Mate Mizsei on Friday. In the round of 16, he lost to Russia’s Eldar Akhmadudinov, who went on to reach the semifinals. Ayoub came in as a 2025 U20 World bronze medalist for Puerto Rico. This summer he became the first Puerto Rican wrestler to win U23 Pan-American gold.

Araujo received a bye in the opening round and lost an 8-0 decision to Kazakhstan’s Nurdaulet Seilbekov in the round of 16. Seilbekov reached the quarterfinals. Araujo is a 2024 U20 World bronze medalist for Brazil. He also took bronze at the U23 Pan-American Championships in Lima, Peru.

Former Husker wrestler James Green will compete at the Senior World Championships, with freestyle competition starting Thursday, Oct. 29. 

Nebraska’s NCAA season will begin on Nov. 8 with a home opener against the Wyoming Cowboys, where Minto, Araujo and Ayoub are expected to be top performers this season.