Monty De Beer won the Veterans-E 100 kg freestyle gold medal at the 2026 Veteran World Championships on Friday, beating Özcan Uncul of Türkiye 5-0 in the final without conceding a point. It is the third world title of the 59-year-old South African’s career.
USA Wrestling’s results card for the Friday freestyle session lists the full 100 kg podium:
- 🥇 Matthys De Beer, South Africa
- 🥈 Özcan Uncul, Türkiye
- 🥉 Farzad Helali, Iran
- 🥉 Gantulga Hursed, Mongolia
Matthys De Beer is the name on the official card and on his United World Wrestling athlete page. The field ran to ten wrestlers, down to Giuseppe Agnello of Italy in tenth, so this was a full bracket rather than a handful of entries sharing out medals.
Monty De Beer’s Route To Gold At The Veteran World Championships
Three bouts, in order:
- 8-2 over Erik Hinckley of the United States
- 2-2 over Farzad Helali of Iran, won on criteria
- 5-0 over Özcan Uncul of Türkiye for the gold medal
The middle one was the tight one, and it was also a rematch. Helali is the same Iranian De Beer beat in the 2024 final in Croatia, that time on a 3-3 score. Two meetings at a world final or semi-final, two scores level on points, two wins to De Beer on criteria.
A tied score is not a draw in freestyle wrestling. It goes to criteria, where the higher-value single scoring move counts for more than a string of smaller ones. Helali took bronze in Amman after a fall over Hinckley in 46 seconds in the bronze-medal bout.
Hinckley was not a soft draw either. The American had already taken Greco-Roman bronze at 100 kg in the same age group on Tuesday, beating Frank Drescher 5-0 in that bronze match, and came back onto the mat in freestyle on Friday. He finished fifth.
Veterans-E Is The 56-To-60 Age Band
Veteran wrestling does not throw everyone into one open division. Wrestlers are grouped into five-year age bands, from Veterans-A at 35 to 40, through B at 41 to 45, C at 46 to 50, D at 51 to 55, and E at 56 to 60.
That is what makes the record stand up. De Beer won his first title in Veterans-D, moved up a band, and has now won twice in Veterans-E. At 59 he is near the top of the current band, giving away up to three years to the rest of the bracket.
- 2018, Veterans-D, 100 kg freestyle, North Macedonia
- 2024, Veterans-E, 100 kg freestyle, Croatia
- 2026, Veterans-E, 100 kg freestyle
The 2018 one came in an all-South African final, against C. Sutton. The official United World Wrestling video of that bout is titled for both men and their country code.
A Longer Veteran Career Than Three Golds Suggests
The titles are the headline, but the athlete page carries the rest of it. De Beer was seventh in Veterans-C in Bulgaria in 2017 and fifth in Veterans-D in Georgia in 2019. Neither was a medal.
So the three golds sit on top of a decade of showing up at the same championships and working up through the age bands, not on three isolated trips that happened to come off.
This year’s championships run from 6 to 11 October at the Princess Sumaya Hall in Amman, Jordan, with freestyle and Greco-Roman both on the programme. United World Wrestling calls the event the Veteran World Championships, which is the name on the entry lists and the results. Masters is the label most South Africans use for the same thing, but it is not the official title.
The gold carries 25 team points, and on USA Wrestling’s Veterans-E team standings that leaves South Africa tied for eighth.
South Africa sent more than wrestlers to Jordan. Valerie Cornelius, Zumicke Geringer and Jeandre Meyer, all newly qualified international referees, were appointed to officiate at the championships, part of what the South African Wrestling Federation has described as a growing officiating base alongside the competitive side of the sport.
The federation also has Andy Patrick entered in Veterans-D at 70 kg, with Duane Van Staden coaching the team. Patrick was down to wrestle on Saturday, after the Friday card closed.
