Gable Steveson Match Tracker At The 2023 US Open Wrestling Championships
Gable Steveson Match Tracker At The 2023 US Open Wrestling Championships
Tracking Gable Steveson's matches at the 2023 US Open Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas
Olympic Champion Gable Steveson surprised the wrestling world a few weeks ago when he laced up his shoes and registered for the 2023 US Open Wrestling Championships!
At the US Open, Steveson will be in the bracket with the likes of 2023 NCAA Champion Mason Parris and two-time world medalist Nick Gwiazdowski. Steveson will wrestle on April 27-28 and look to win the 125kg weight class in order to qualify for Final X in June. Because it’s Steveson’s first matches back, and because there’s so much on the line, we’ll be tracking all of Steveson’s matches at the US Open in the below article.
Round Of 16 Match vs Malcolm Allen
Gable Steveson made his return to the freestyle scene with a quick tech-fall over Malcolm Allen. Steveson showed off his speed and footwork early with a step-out and then a quick takedown. He then displayed some par-terre skills with a gut wrench before earning a step-out, takedown, and turn to win 10-0.
Quarter-Final Match vs Wyatt Hendrickson
Gable looked incredibly impressive against 2023 All-American Wyatt Hendrickson. Steveson earned two quick takedowns before extending his lead to 8-0 with a 4-point move with just over a minute to go in the first. Then, about 20 seconds later, Steveson earned another 4-points off a big double leg to win 12-0 over Hendrickson.
Semi-Final Match vs Mason Parris
In what was one of the most highly anticipated matches of the tournament, Gable Steveson took on Mason Parris in the semi-finals and was dominant from start to finish. Steveson took a 5-0 lead in the first 30 seconds of the match after earning a step-out and a big 4-point takedown. Steveson then added another takedown before giving up a step-out late in the first to take a 7-1 lead into the break. Steveson did let Parris hang around for long and secured another 4-point move just under 20 seconds into the second period to secure the 11-1 tech fall. If there was ever a doubt that Steveson was back to his Olympic title form, this match against Parris removed that.
Finals vs Nick Gwiazdowski
Gable closed out his US Open against a familiar opponent in 2-time world medalist Nick Gwiazdowski. Believe it or not, Gwiazdowski beat Steveson in 2-straight matches back at Final X in 2019 to make the world team that year. However, since then, Gable had won 3 straight over Gwiazdowski and his win on Friday night made it 4 in a row.
Steveson got off to a quick start in the finals match with a takedown in just 9 seconds. The pace slowed for about 2 minutes until Gable secured 2 quick takedowns to take a 6-0 lead into the break. Then, at just 9 seconds (again) into the second period, Gable finished a single leg that was originally called 4 but after a challenge was overturned to 2 points to keep the match alive at 8-0. However, Gwiazdowski only survived for another minute before Steveson once again finished a single leg to complete the 10-0 tech fall.
Steveson finished his weekend at the US Open by going 4-0 with 4.tech falls and outscoring his opponents 44-1. Gable's back and he's gotten better. That's bad news for every other heavyweight wrestler in the world!