Kyle Dake with the American flag after winning his second straight world title (Photo/Mark Lundy, Lutte-Lens.com)NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan -- The United States closed out the 2019 World Championships on Sunday by crowning a repeat world champion for the second straight day.
Kyle Dake claimed his second straight world title at 79 kilograms, a day after J'den Cox repeated as world champion at 92 kilograms. The 28-year-old American defeated Jabrayil Hasanov of Azerbaijan, 4-2, in the finals on Sunday in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.
"Second world title is pretty awesome," said Dake. "It's different than last year. I'm here. I've been here. I know what to expect. I know the fans. I know the setup. I know everything. But it's still really awesome … really, really awesome."
Dake outscored his opposition 27-6 in four matches at the World Championships.
In the finals, Dake scored with a step out 30 seconds into the match to go up 1-0. He added another step out two minutes into the match to go up 2-0.
In the second period, Dake fired off a single leg twenty seconds into the period and converted it to takedown on the edge of the mat, extending his lead to 4-0. With less than a minute left, Hasanov shot and got to Dake's leg, driving the American out of bounds for a step out. Hasanov continued to attack and was able to get a step out in the final 10 seconds, but Dake held on to win by two.
With 79 kilograms not being a weight class contested in the Olympic Games, Dake is expected to make the move down to 74 kilograms in 2020.
Kyle Snyder with the bronze medal (Photo/Mark Lundy, Lutte-Lens.com)Olympic champion Kyle Snyder, who fell in Saturday's semifinals, earned a bronze medal at 97 kilograms with a 5-0 shutout over Georgia's Elizbar Odikadze.
Snyder controlled Odikadze from start-to finish. He picked up a step out 10 seconds into the match. Midway through the opening period, Snyder shot a double leg and picked up a takedown to extend his lead to 3-0. The score stayed that way until the closing seconds of the match when Snyder scored a takedown after a flurry.
The 23-year-old Snyder said it wasn't hard to find motivation to come back and wrestle for bronze after failing to make the finals of the World Championships for the first time.
"Every day, no matter what I'm doing, I'm supposed to do it with all my heart," said Snyder. "I'm working for the Lord, not for myself or any other man. So that was easy."
Dake and Snyder's medals on the final day of competition in Nur-Sultan helped the United States finish third in the team standings. Russia ran away with the team title, scoring 190 points. Host Kazakhstan finished second with 103 points, followed by the United States with 94 points. Iran (93) and Georgia (85) rounded out the top five teams.
Tyler Graff gets in on a single leg against India's Rahul Aware (Photo/Mark Lundy, Lutte-Lens.com)Tyler Graff won his repechage match over Mihai Esanu of Moldova, 13-2, to earn a spot in the bronze-medal match at 61 kilograms. He then fell to India's Rahul Aware, 11-4, to place fifth.
University of Michigan wrestler Myles Amine, who became the first-ever Olympic qualifier in wrestling for San Marino, dropped his bronze-medal match at 86 kilograms to Russia's Artur Naifonov, 6-0.
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