How'd They Get To Final X: Rutgers - Men's Freestyle
How'd They Get To Final X: Rutgers - Men's Freestyle
The matches the men's freestyle wrestlers won to earn a bid to Final X - Rutgers.
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It's Final X: Rutgers week. To prepare for this rad event of extraordinary wrestlers, let's review the matches that each Final X competitor had to win to secure their bid.
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Sat. June 8 | 12:00 PM & 6 PM Eastern
125 Kilograms
Nick Gwiazdowski defeated Sumit of India in Budapest to win a bronze medal at the 2018 World Championship to earn a bye to Rutgers.
Gable Steveson defeated 2019 U.S. Open champion Adam Coon in two straight matches at the 2019 World Team Trials Challenge Tournament in Raleigh. Match number two is below.
65 Kilograms
Fresh off his sophomore season of college, Yianni Diakomihalis beat 2017 world team member Zain Retherford in the 2019 U.S. Open finals. With no returning medalist at 65 kg, that win Yianni punched his ticket to Final X in Vegas.
Undeterred by the Open loss, Zain Retherford bounced back to win the Trials Challenge Tourney over Jordan Oliver two matches to none, by a score of 7-6 both times. Match two is below.
92 Kilograms
J'den Cox would go on to win gold in his next match, but it was technically his semifinal win against two-time world bronze medalist Alireza Karimi of Iran that ensured Cox of a medal in Budapest and clinched his Final X bid.
Because Cox is a returning world medalist, Bo Nickal's 2019 U.S. Open championship earned him a bye to the finals of the 2019 World Team Trials Challenge Tournament. There, he beat mini-tournament winner Michael Macchiavello in two straight matches earn the right to challenge Cox. The second match is below.
