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Kyle Dake is oldest U.S. wrestling world champ; U.S. men's freestyle could run the medal table
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- Kyle Dake is oldest U.S. wrestling world champ; U.S. men's freestyle could run the medal table
Kyle Dake became at age 35 the oldest U.S. wrestler to win a world title on a day where the U.S. ensured it will win a medal in at least nine of 10 men's freestyle events for the first time at a single World Championships.
Dake, a 35-year-old, two-time Olympic bronze medalist, beat Arsenii Dzhioev of Armenia 3-2 in the 86kg final in Astana, Kazakhstan.
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Dake, who at Cornell became the first Division I wrestler to win an NCAA title in four different weight classes from 2010-13, is now the first U.S. wrestler to win a world title in three different divisions.
Dake won world titles at 79kg in 2018 and 2019 and at 74kg in 2021 and 2022.
Also Saturday, Americans won bronze medals in the other three weight classes that had finals — 19-year-old Marcus Blaze at 61kg, Zain Retherford at 70kg and Wyatt Hendrickson at 125kg.
Blaze and Retherford's titles came in non-Olympic weights.
Advancing to gold-medal matches on the final day of worlds on Sunday were 2024 Olympic silver medalist Spencer Lee (57kg), 2025 World silver medalist Levi Haines (79kg) and 2025 World champion Trent Hidlay (92kg).
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If James Green (74kg) wins three repechage matches Sunday to earn a bronze medal, the U.S. will have won a medal in every men's freestyle division at one worlds (10 this year) for the first time.
The program already made history by winning a medal in at least all but one men's freestyle weight at a worlds for the first time (not counting 2016, when only two weights were contested).
The U.S. also won a medal in all but one men's freestyle event at the Olympics in 1920, 1984 and 2021, plus won every medal at the 1904 St. Louis Games, where all of the entrants were American.
Bo Bassett
Bo Bassett, Kyle Snyder, Everest Leydecker win world titles on historic day for U.S. wrestling
The U.S. won three gold medals and one silver medal in Friday's four finals at the World Wrestling Championships.
