Mark Hall repeated as Junior world champion (Photo/Richard Immel)TAMPERE, Finland -- For the second straight year, and third time in four years, Mark Hall is a world champion.
Hall won in grand fashion on Tuesday night in the gold-medal match at the Junior World Championships in Tampere, Finland. The 20-year-old Hall used a front headlock roll-through to secure a fall in the first minute against Isa Shapiev of Uzbekistan in their finals match at 74 kilograms.
"It feels good," said Hall. "Walking back, Coach Casey [Cunningham] just kind of told me it was a great way to round out the last year. I won Junior Worlds. And then pulling my redshirt and winning an NCAA championship, and then coming back and winning another Junior world title is a pretty awesome feat. At the same time, there is a lot that I can work on. But I'm just grateful."
Hall went 4-0 in the first session earlier in the day, which included wins over a past Cadet silver medalist from Russia and an Asian champion from Iran.
Hall was a Cadet world champion in 2014 and claimed his first Junior world title last year. Earlier this year he won an NCAA title as a true freshman at Penn State.
Mitchell McKee, who wrestles at the University of Minnesota, reached the gold-medal match at 60 kilograms before losing by fall to Abdula Akhmedov of Russia by fall. Akhmedov, a European bronze medalist, raced out to an 8-0 lead in the first minute before getting the fall.
Team USA's third medal of the day came from Ohio State wrestler Kollin Moore, who won by technical fall in the bronze-medal match over Ilja Matuhin of Germany. Moore's lone loss in the tournament came in the semifinals to Givi Matcharashvili of Georgia.
The second day of freestyle action is set for tomorrow with Americans Daton Fix (55 kilograms), Ryan Deakin (66 kilograms), Zahid Valencia (84 kilograms) and Gable Steveson (120 kilograms) set to compete.
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