Gopher Wrestling Club

Steveson will not wrestle at Senior World Championships; Parris to compete for USA at 125 kg in Belgrade

2020 Olympic champion Gable Steveson (Minneapolis, Minn./Gopher WC RTC) has notified USA Wrestling that he will not be competing in the 2023 Senior World Championships at 125 kg in Belgrade, Serbia in September.

Replacing Steveson in the 125 kg position in men’s freestyle at the World Championships is Final X runner-up Mason Parris (Ann Arbor, Mich./Titan Mercury WC/Cliff Keen WC). Parris, who is No. 2 on the 2023-24 U.S. Senior Men’s Freestyle National Team, will be competing in his first Senior World Championships for Team USA.

Steveson returned to freestyle wrestling for the first time since the Olympic Games in Tokyo when he won the 2023 U.S. Open in Las Vegas in April, then secured his position on the 2023 U.S. Senior World Team with his victory at Final X in Newark, N.J. in June. Continue reading at themat.com →

Steveson, Smith Victorious at Final X

MINNEAPOLIS – Former Gopher wrestlers Patrick Smith and Gable Steveson each won their best-of-three matches Saturday at Final X in Newark, N.J., to claim a spot on the U.S. Senior Teams ahead of this fall’s World Championships.

Smith, competing for Minnesota Storm, claimed victory in his Greco-Roman matchup at 72 kg over Justus Scott from Army WCAP. After dropping the first match via criteria decision 3-3, Smith bounced back to even the series at 1-1 thanks to a 5-4 victory. Coming down to the final match, Smith opened up with a 6-0 lead and held on for a 7-5 decision. With the win, he’s now heading to his fourth Senior World Championships.

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Tokyo Wrestling Gold Medalist Gable Steveson Balancing 2024 Olympic Hopes With WWE Training

Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson had retired from amateur wrestling and was focused on becoming a World Wrestling Entertainment superstar

Gable Steveson achieved his longtime dream of joining World Wrestling Entertainment, but he never lost his desire to entertain on the amateur mat.

In his early 20s, Steveson seemed to already have done it all in amateur wrestling and moved on. He claimed an Olympic gold medal at heavyweight at the Tokyo Games and won two college national titles at Minnesota. After his second college championship, he left his shoes in the center of the mat symbolizing his retirement from amateur wrestling. After that, he made some appearances with WWE, most notably at SummerSlam in 2021 and at WrestleMania 38 in 2022.

But Steveson still had his foot in the amateur door. He has split his time between training in Minneapolis with Brandon Eggum, his college coach at the University of Minnesota, and the WWE Performance Training Center in Orlando, Florida. Though still with WWE, the urge to try to position himself as one of amateur wrestling’s all-time greats became too much. He now will chase a spot at next year’s Paris Olympics.

“The itch and fire will never go away,” Steveson said. “And I feel like if you ask any competitor, old or young, I think it’s always there. But some people just don’t have the bodies to do it because they’re a little older. But I think me just turning 23, I still had that extra fire and I want to see what I could do. I wanted to test my limits. And so I stayed ready just in case the time came where I could come back.” Continue reading at usnews.com →

Olympic champion Steveson among 30 U.S. Open champions to qualify for Final X on June 10

2020 Olympic champion Gable Steveson was among 30 wrestlers to win the 2023 Pritchard Companies U.S. Open Championships, presented by FloWrestling, and earn a spot in Final X, presented by Tezos, on June 10 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

Final X will determine the 2023 U.S. Senior World Team in all three Olympic disciplines: men’s and women’s freestyle and Greco-Roman. There will be 30 weight classes contested, 10 in each Olympic discipline. The top two U.S. athletes in each weight class will compete in a best-of-three series at Final X to determine who will wrestle at the 2023 Senior World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia.

Steveson recorded a technical fall victory over two-time World bronze medalist Nick Gwiazdowski in the 125 kg finals to advance to Final X. He will await the champion of the World Team Trials Challenge Tournament being held in Colorado Springs, Colo., May 20-21.

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Ten Gophers Head to Sin City for 2023 U.S. Open Championships

MINNEAPOLIS – The past, present, and future of Minnesota wrestling will be well represented in Sin City this weekend as a total of ten Gophers will compete in the 2023 U.S. Open Championships at the South Point Hotel in Las Vegas, Nev., this weekend.

The group is headlined by Gable Steveson, the former two-time NCAA heavyweight champion, who will be making his return to amateur wrestling in the 125-kilogram senior division as he kicks off his pursuit of a second Olympic gold medal.

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Former Gopher Gable Steveson Set to Return to Amateur Wrestling Competition

MINNEAPOLIS – Former Gopher heavyweight Gable Steveson has announced his return to amateur wrestling competition on Tuesday evening with his registration in the U.S. Open, which will take place later this month.

The announcement closes out a 13-month hiatus from the sport dating back to last season’s NCAA Championships, where Steveson left his wrestling shoes on the center mat, a rich tradition in wrestling signaling the end of a competitor’s career.

Steveson has hinted towards his desire to make his return to the mat in recent media appearances as the 2024 Olympic cycle draws near. FloWrestling confirmed Steveson’s return through their social channels on Tuesday evening.

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GWC Athletes Prepare For World Cup

MINNEAPOLIS – Gopher Wrestling Club athletes Daniel DeShazer and Hayden Zillmer are set to travel to Coralville, Iowa, this weekend as they prepare to compete in the 2022 World Cup as members of Team USA.

Hayden Zillmer joins the lineup at 125 kilograms alongside Nick Gwiazdowski at 125 kilograms, fresh off his appearance at the 2022 World Wrestling Championships this past summer in Belgrade, Serbia. National team member Daniel DeShazer will represent the stars and stripes at 61 kilograms, joining fellow American Seth Gross at the weight.

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