Bronze for Perrysburg’s Blaze at U20 world wrestling championships

PONTEVEDRA, Spain —  Perrysburg’s Marcus Blaze will return home from overseas with another medal.

The 2023 U17 world champion won a bronze medal in his debut at the U20 World Championships Sunday after beating Tolga Ozbek of Turkey 5-0 in the 61-kilogram bronze medal match.

After suffering his first-ever international loss to eventual champion Masanosuke Ono of Japan on Saturday, Blaze came back to dominate against Ozbek. He closed it with a counter takedown, winning 5-0.

"It's always fun to go out there and wrestle someone who's pretty tricky like that," Blaze said of Ozbek. "I was fortunate enough to shut his offense down and get mine going. … I had great defense, had hands there in the way, and just makes me feel a lot better."

The Perrysburg High School wrestling standout can be proud of his run in Pontevedra, because he was the only wrestler to score against Ono in the tournament. He dropped his semifinal against Ono 7-2, but took confidence in the fact that he lost to someone who is already a senior champion in Japan.

"Ono was legit, super good," he said. "…I was just thinking about a sort of smarter match to start off. I think it would have been different, but it is what it is and hopefully we meet somewhere else."

Blaze said it took him some time to take his mind off the loss against Ono on Saturday but going home with a medal is still a great achievement for him, winning it as a 17-year-old against wrestlers who are 20 years old.

"I lost and I'm not used to that,” Blaze said. “But it's just something that happens, and you have to deal with it. I got back to thinking about the match. I was thinking before I even lost -- gold medal or bronze medal, same thing. The gold medal is way more prestigious and known, but a bronze medal is cool also.

"I'm 17 years old, so I'm pretty young. A lot of these guys are 20, so it's like their last go. It obviously is a confidence booster, knowing that I'm 17."

Blaze's bronze medal was also crucial in Team USA's team title-winning effort at the U20 world championships. Team USA claimed the first position with 175 points over Iran and Japan, which finished second and third, respectively.

Team USA coach J'den Cox was proud of the way the team wrestled, especially of the wrestlers who came back the second day and finished with the medals.

"Everyone put themselves in the position to get on the podium and win the best medal they could," Cox said. "Everyone is going to get better but overall it was great. They are the best in the world. I get it that individually in some cases we didn't get where we wanted to go but as a whole, we wrestled an amazing tournament."

With a successful run behind him, Blaze will have a chance to make his first senior world team next weekend when he wrestles at the Non-Olympic World Team Trials in Omaha. The winners will be on Team USA to compete at the World Championships, set for Oct. 28-31 in Tirana, Albania.

"I competed with people [in Pontevedra] who are top of the top and senior world team members for their countries,” Blaze said. “That's super confidence boosting, and Omaha will be fun.”

Blaze's family traveled to Spain to be with him as he attempted to win his second world title.

He thanked the Perrysburg community for their support and commitment.

"I have the best community. Perrysburg is awesome," he said. "I know they're all in my corner. My mom, dad, sister, grandma are all here. It's awesome having them come over and travel and be in my corner as I compete and try and win a world title."