Two Penn State Legends Chase Wrestling Gold at Worlds
David Taylor and Zain Retherford, who combined to win five NCAA wrestling titles at Penn State, will compete for world championships Friday in Serbia.
Taylor and Retherford advanced to the men's freestyle finals at the Senior World Wrestling Championships finals through dominant performances in the preliminary rounds. Neither allowed a point through the semifinals in Belgrade.
Taylor seeks to become a two-time world champion. Retherford is pursuing his first gold at worlds. The finals begin at noon ET on Friday. Flowrestling is streaming the world championships.
Taylor, a two-time NCAA champ and a defending Olympic gold medalist, breezed through his early matches at 86 kg, outscoring opponents 33-0. He will wrestler a familiar opponent in the championship match.
Hassan Yazdani Charati of Iran is a three-time world champion who defeated Taylor for the 2021 title. But Taylor beat Charati in the 2020 Olympic final and during his run to the 2018 world championship.
Retherford (70 kg) is competing in his first world final after placing 11th in 2016 and 26th in 2019. He has gone on a sterling run at worlds, winning by three shutout decisions and a fall. Retherford defeated Georgia's Zurabi Iakobishvili, the 2017 world champ, 7-0 in the semifinals.
Retherford, a three-time NCAA champ, will face 2022 Asian champion Taishi Narikuni in the championship bout. Both worked through the bracket as relative underdogs; Retherford entered as the No. 6 seed, while Narikuni was unseeded.
Narikuni in 2017 was assessed with a two-year ban for doping and did not compete at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Retherford defeated Jordan Oliver, a former NCAA champion from Oklahoma State, at Final X qualifying in June to earn a trip to worlds.
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