U20 World Championships On Deck
August 30, 2024 | Wrestling
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Orange and Black will be sprinkled among Team USA's contingent at next week's U20 World Championships in Pontevedra, Spain.
A pair – Justin Rademacher and Aden Attao – will represent Oregon State on the global stage with the USA's Freestyle and Greco-Roman teams, respectively at the event. Each of the wrestlers sealed their spots during June's Team Trials back in June, both sweeping their competition in the best-of-three finals.
Competing at 97 kg, Rademacher – a rising sophomore from West Linn - collected a dozen wins in his first season, including four over ranked opponents and his first two were via pin. After a win over then-No. 15 Nick Stemmet of Stanford, he was selected the Pac-12's Wrestler of the Week for the first time in his career. Following the success of his regular season, he punched a ticket to the NCAA Championships as an automatic qualifier with a runner-up finish at the Pac-12 Championships.
Earlier this summer, Rademacher clinched his place on the squad with an emphatic win over a U.S. Open champion in Ohio, Camden McDaniel. With it being a best-of-three final, Rademacher battled for a 4-3 win in the opener before cruising to an 11-1 victory to seal the spot at 97 kg.
Attao, no stranger to international competitions, has represented the United States in a multitude of competitions, succeeding in many but has a new one ahead. He has twice won the 130 kg crown at the Pan-American Championships (2023 and 2024) and even helped Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics earlier this month as a training partner.
The Boise, Idaho product clinched his spot with Team USA for U20s with a dominant performance in the best-of-three finals series, needing just two. Not conceding any points in the round, Attao used a 9-0 win by technical victory in 5:44. Wasting little time to clinch the team spot, he needed just under two minutes – 1:44 – for a win by tech fall at 8-0.
Following the U20s, Attao will look to make his debut in a Beaver singlet as he will try to earn a spot in the OSU lineup at heavyweight when the season opens in October.
Attao starts his run at the U20s on Monday, September 2nd with the qualification rounds set for 1 a.m. PT. Rademacher starts his run at the U20s on Friday, September 6th with the qualification rounds set for midnight PT. The tournament's entirety will be shown exclusively on FloWrestling.
OUR MISSION
Oregon State Athletics strives to Build Excellent Authentic Visionary Student-Athletes (Go BEAVS)
Players Mentioned
