Gopher Wrestling Club’s Hayden Zillmer, in his first Senior World Championships appearance, earned two wins to advance to the quarterfinals. There, he dropped a 9-4 bout to two-time Olympic medalist and three-time World champion Geno Petriashvili from Georgia.
Zillmer was eliminated from the tournament when Petriashvili was upset in the semifinals by Lkhagvagerel Munkhtur of Mongolia, failing to pull Zillmer into repechage.
125 kg: Hayden Zillmer (Minneapolis, Minn./Gopher WC RTC)
WIN Zyyamuhammet Saparov (Turkmenistan), 15-4
WIN Robert Baran (Poland), 3-2
LOSS Geno Petriashvili (Georgia), 9-4
Former Apple Valley wrestler Seth Gross is set to compete in his first Senior World Championships on Saturday.
Fans can watch the action live on flowrestling.org.