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Stieber Eliminated at World Championships

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Andy Vance's picture
by Andy Vance
August 25, 2017 at 6:19am
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Logan Stieber's quest for a second world championship ended almost as quickly as it began. The four-time NCAA champion lost via tech fall (11-0) to Russia's Gadzhimurad Rashidov in the Round of 16 at the Senior World Championships in Paris, France Friday morning.

Representing Team USA in the 61kg division, Stieber faced the toughest draw of any American in the men's freestyle division, with two of the top four wrestlers in the world directly in his path to a title. Rashidov, ranked as the #4 wrestler in FloWrestling's international standings, won via tech fall (11-0) in his opening bout versus Jozsef Molnar of Hungary, and will almost certainly face top-ranked Vladimer Khinchegashvili of Georgia in the quarterfinals later in the day.

Stieber took a shot early in the match, but a spin behind takedown gave the Russian an early 2-0 lead. An Ankle pick takedown and pushout gave him the 5-0 advantage at the break.

While Stieber was very much in the match at the opening of the second period, things got out of hand very quickly. Another takedown and two quick turns gave Rashidov the tech fall victory, and just like that, the Ohio State alumnus was out of gold medal contention.

Former Ohio State and World teammate Reece Humphrey summarized the situation in the most concise manner possible:

Iowa's Thomas Gilman advanced in his first round match at 57kg, as did NC State heavyweight Nick Gwiazdowski (via tech fall, no less). Missouri's Olympic bronze medalist J'Den Cox, with perhaps the easiest draw of the tournament, slipped past his Round of 16 opponent as well, so three of four Americans wrestling today are still in the hunt.

Buckeye Kyle Snyder will wrestle tomorrow at 97kg; his bracket will be released later this morning.

UPDATE: Rashidov has plowed through the competition, and his victory over Turkey's Cengizhan Erdogan has given Stieber a entry back into the tournament!

UPDATE 2: The day is far from over for Stieber, as his first match in repecharge was a takedown clinic. He dusted Hungary's Molnar quite handily, and will now wrestle World and Olympic champ Vladimer Khinchegashvili for entrance into the Bronze Medal match later today. As noted above, Khinchegashvili is a formidable opponent; he fell prey the Russian buzzsaw Rashidov by a score of 6-3.

 UPDATE 3: Just when you thought it wasn't over, it was over. In a shocking turn of events, Stieber was shut out for the second time in three matches, and his tournament is officially over.

UPDATE 4: Stieber was understandably disappointed in the results of his efforts on the day, telling the media in Paris that "I knew it was going to be tough," drawing two of the top three wrestlers in the world on his side of the bracket.

He batted down a question about his health, saying he felt great going into the match.

"It's disappointing, obviously I wanted to medal with my teammates," he said about his feelings. "I'm disappointed in my results. Losing is tough."

Looking ahead to the future, he said he would take some time off, look at proposed changes to weight classes for 2018, and said he would consult with his coaches before deciding where he might compete moving forward.

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