Tokyo 2020 champ David Taylor captures world championships bronze medal
After making it out of the repechage round, the American defeated Kamran Ghasempour for his fifth medal at the global event
Wrestling
U.S. wrestler David Taylor added a fifth career medal to his resume Thursday (31 October) at the World Wrestling Championships 2024 in Tirana, Albania.
A three-time world champion and 2021 runner-up at 86kg, the American added bronze at 92kg to his collection after he defeated the Islamic Republic of Iran's Kamran Ghasempour with a 6-2 victory by points.
On Wednesday, the Tokyo 2020 gold medallist at 86kg fell to two-time Olympic champion Abdulrashid Sadulaev, 7-0, in the qualification round of the freestyle 92kg competition. When Sadulaev made it to the finals, that pulled Taylor into the repechage round and gave him a chance to compete for bronze.
Taylor, then, scored a 3-1 victory over Azerbaijan's Abubakr Abakarov to book his spot in the bronze medal match.
Ahead of the World Championships, Taylor told Olympics.com he had been looking forward to a match-up with Sadulaev, the eventual champion in Tirana.
“I've been in a lot of big matches in my life and wrestled all the legends in our sport. And he's just the one guy I hadn’t got to. So I really want to make it happen," he told us. "We’ve been considered two of the best in the world for a while, but there’s been that weight class separation and other things. It’s a pretty crazy series of events that have led to us both being in this weight category for this event—a very low statistical probability."
The 2024 World Championships only feature wrestlers who didn't compete at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.