PONTEVEDRA, Spain — South Dakota State’s Tanner Sloan will wrestle for a gold medal after an impressive day of freestyle competition Friday at the U23 World Championship.
A native of Alburnett, Iowa, Sloan went 3-0 in action in the 97-kilogram division. He opened with a 10-2 victory over Mucahit Celik of Turkey, followed by a 6-3 decision against Andro Margishvili of Georgia.
In semifinal action, Sloan posted another 10-2 victory, this time over Islan Ilyasov of Azerbaijan. He is slated to square off against Amirali Azarpira of Iran in Saturday’s championship match.
Sloan is the first American finalist in the men’s freestyle division, with five more wrestlers scheduled to begin competition on Saturday. The five Team USA wrestlers who competed Friday combined for an 8-2 record, with two earning trips to bronze-medal matches and two eliminated. Team USA is tied for second place with Iran with 40 points, trailing Georgia with 50 points.
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