Team USA won the team title at the Junior Worlds (Photo/Richard Immel)TAMPERE, Finland -- With the team title on the line at the Junior World Championships, Gable Steveson delivered.
Steveson came through to win the gold medal at 120 kilograms, which propelled USA to its first freestyle title at the Junior/Espoir Championships since 1984. USA edged Russia 68-67 in the team score. Iran finished third.
"We had a tough squad," said Steveson, who won Cadet world titles in 2015 and 2016. "Everybody wrestled well. Everybody pitched in to be world champs. It was real fun being here with them."
USA finished the competition with seven medals in the eight weight classes contested, highlighted by gold medals from Steveson and Daton Fix (55 kilograms) on Wednesday, and Mark Hall (74 kilograms) on Tuesday.
Ryan Deakin (66 kilograms) and Zahid Valencia (84 kilograms) both reached the finals on Wednesday before losing.
Gable Steveson celebrates after winning the gold medal (Photo/Richard Immel)After getting technical falls in his first four matches, Steveson defeated Iran's Naeiim Hassanzadeh 6-1 for the title.
Fix capped off a dominant run to the title at 55 kilograms with a 12-1 technical fall over Russia's Ismail Gadzhiev.
Fix, who will be attending Oklahoma State, scored a takedown in the first 10 seconds of the gold-medal match against Russia's Ismail Gadzhiev and never took his foot off the gas. Another takedown and exposure extended his lead to 6-1 at the break. He added three more takedowns in the second period to end the match.
"It's something that I've always dreamed of doing," said Fix. "It's indescribable, really."
Daton Fix after winning the gold medal at 55 kilograms (Photo/Richard Immel)He outscored his competition 53-1 in the tournament. Fix adds a world gold to a collection that includes a Cadet world bronze medal in 2015 and Junior world bronze medal in 2016.
Deakin was outgunned in the finals at 66 kilograms, losing by technical fall, 10-0, to Russia's David Baev. The Russian built an 8-0 lead off three first-period takedowns and an exposure, and then put the match away with a lace.
Valencia fell 7-5 to Russia's Artur Naifonov in the gold-medal match at 84 kilograms. Valencia gave up a caution and two in the first period, but still led 5-4 at the break. Naifonov capitalized off an overaggressive attack by Valencia in the second period and scored a takedown to go up 6-5. A short time later Valencia got in on a body lock, but Naifonov turned the tables and scored with a step out to extend his lead to 7-5, which is how the match would end.
The Junior World Championships resume on Thursday with the start of the women's wrestling competition. Action gets underway at 10 a.m. local time, 3 a.m. ET. Asia Ray, Cameron Guerin, Gracie Figueroa and Alex Glaude will compete for USA on Thursday.
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