Team USA traveled to Kazakhstan over the weekend and came home with some hardware. In total, the U.S. had seven medalists and the women’s team brought home a third place trophy and some historical moments.
High five for Gray
Adeline Gray of the U.S. women’s team brought home her fifth gold medal at the Senior World Championships at 76kg. After defeating the two-time World bronze medalist, Hiroe Suzuki, in the finals by a score of 4-2, Gray went down as the only wrestler in U.S. history to win five titles at Senior Worlds. On top of this impressive performance, Gray also became the first woman to bring home back-to-back World titles since Tricia Saunders in 1999.
Women set records
Along with Gray, the U.S. women’s team added two other gold medalists to their roster.
In the 68 kg division, Tamyra Mensah-Stock captured her first World title and Jacarra Winchester also sealed the number one spot at the 55 kg weight class. This was the first time ever that the USA had three women World champions.
All they do is win
In the men’s division, there were some repeat trips to the top of the podium. J’den Cox found himself garnished in gold for his second World title after going through the tournament unscored upon at the 86 kg weight class. He was the second U.S. man to win an Olympic or World title without letting an opponent score a point in more than 30 years. The teammate to have done that last year was Kyle Dake who this year found himself going home with his second World title. Dake may not have been unscored upon this year at the 79 kg weight class, but some might say only allowing four points during the competition is a decent accomplishment on top of a gold medal.
Burroughs only seeing bronze
Jordan Burroughs is typically known for his brand titled All I See is Gold, however during his semifinal match, the four-time World champion fell short of victory after suffering a last second-step out point to Russia’s, Zaurbek Sidakov at the 74 kg weight class. Still impressive enough, Burroughs ended up climbing his way back to earn a bronze medal for the United States, but this will mark the first time Burroughs goes into an Olympic year without the title of World champ.
Snyder falls short but collects big
The match that shocked the world might just have been the defeat of USA’s 97kg Kyle
Snyder. Snyder was defeated 5-2 in the semifinal by Sharif Sharifov of Azerbaijan. However, Snyder still went on to claim a bronze medal to add to his impressive collection. Snyder who was the youngest wrestler to ever win the World, NCAA, and Olympic championships in the same year back in 2016, has now gone home with a medal in every World or Olympic event he has entered in his career.