Baku, Azerbaijan – Heavyweight Dremiel Byers of Colorado Springs won his bronze medal bout Wednesday, securing the American Greco-Roman team its first world title.
Byers, who lost to Olympic and two-time world champion Khasan Baroyev of Russia in the semifinals, went into his match against Yannick Szczepaniak of France with the Americans trailing the Russians 30-29.
Byers then rallied to beat Szczepaniak 1-1, 2-0, 2-1, putting the U.S. team up by one point on Russia, 31-30.
In the 120-kilogram title match, the favored Baroyev lost to Cuba’s Mijail Lopez – leaving the Russians without any additional points and handing the world title to the Americans.
Uzbekistan had 28 points to take third.
“This is the greatest day in the history of U.S. Greco-Roman wrestling,” Rich Bender, USA Wrestling’s executive director, said. “This wasn’t going to be possible unless we, as an organization, made a huge commitment to the sport.”
The best previous finishes by a U.S. Greco-Roman team at worlds were third-place showings in 2001 and 2006.
“This is a dream come true for me and our squad,” U.S. coach Steve Fraser said. “We’ve been working for this for 12 years. We’ve come a long way.”
On Tuesday, Brad Vering of Colorado Springs won his first world silver medal in the 84-kilogram division. Harry Lester of Akron, Ohio, took his second straight worlds bronze at 66 kilograms, and Lindsey Durlacher of Colorado Springs finished fifth at 55 kilograms Monday.
“It feels great to get it done this time. Last year was bad, and I was glad I could shake some of that off,” Byers said. “We’re walking away with something real special.”
Lopez, 2005 champion, lost to Baroyev in the final last season.
Later Wednesday, as the men’s freestyle matches began, the Russian wrestlers dominated opening events.
Besik Kudukhov, last season’s silver medalist, won his first championship gold, beating Bayaraa Naranbaatar of Mongolia 3-0, 1-1 in the 55-kilogram class.
Athens Olympic champion Mavlet Batirov won 3-0 on technical points over European champion Anatolie Guidea of Bulgaria in the 60-kilogram category.
