Spencer Lee vs Roman Bravo-Young for 57kg World gold
Iowa versus Penn State for a senior freestyle world title, with Bravo-Young wrestling for Mexico.
Spencer Lee and Roman Bravo-Young both won their 57kg semifinals in Astana, setting up a World final between them Sunday morning. Lee trailed Azerbaijan's Islam Bazarganov 10-5 and pinned him, per Justin Basch, after teching his first three opponents. Bravo-Young, the two-time NCAA champ from Penn State now wrestling for Mexico, beat North Korea's Chong Han 4-1 on the other side of the bracket.
That is Iowa versus Penn State for senior men's freestyle World gold, which is the kind of thing that does not usually survive contact with a 24-man bracket.
The team race is live
Basch has the United States leading Russia 180-145 with Saturday's points locked in, and Russia capping out at 185. Two American golds on Sunday ends it. So does one American gold plus one Russian loss, or two Russian losses. A win there would be Team USA's first men's freestyle World team title since 2022.
Three Americans wrestle for gold Sunday morning, all times ET per Basch. Levi Haines meets Nokhodilarimi of Iran at 79kg around 8:09. Lee and Bravo-Young go around 8:25. Trent Hidlay faces Gadzhimagomedov of Russia at 92kg around 8:41, a head-to-head that could settle the team title by itself.
The semifinal that almost was not
Lee had not been tested to that point. Three straight tech falls, then a 10-5 hole against Bazarganov with a World final on the line.
"After three straight techs, he had to dig deep, and he found a way," Basch wrote.
After three straight techs, he had to dig deep, and he found a way.
Bravo-Young's path was quieter. A 4-1 decision over Chong Han, no drama, straight into a final against a guy he has shared a conference with for years.
Christian Pyles summed up the pairing in one line once both results were in. Basch, for his part, went looking for the Big Ten angle immediately, joking that @ShaneSparksBTN would wake up to Penn State versus Iowa in a World final and lean hard on the premiere conference bit.
What to watch Sunday: whether the United States can get the two golds it needs before Hidlay even steps out at 92kg, and how Lee handles a final against an opponent who knows his folkstyle game as well as anyone in the field.
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It's Penn State vs. Iowa for a World title Sunday morning.
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