Wrestling Video
Post-Match Interview
NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan – Wayland Baptist wrestling coach
Aaron Meister couldn't be happier for
Tamyra Mensah-Stock after the former Pioneer wrestler won the gold medal today at the World Wrestling Championships.
"Today is a very special day for Tamyra and Wayland's wrestling program. As a coach, one of the most gratifying things to see is for your athletes to succeed. To see one become the best in the world is what we dream about, so for that to happen is truly amazing," Meister said.
Mensah-Stock, who won two WCWA national championships while competing for Wayland in 2015 and 2017, claimed the gold medal at 68 kg/149.5 lbs.
"The goal from the start for Tamyra was to become the best in the world, and she has done that," Meister said. "Congratulations to her and all of the other people who trained her."
By winning her quarterfinal bout, Mensah-Stock – a native of Katy, Texas, who currently is a resident athlete at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. – qualified the USA for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo at her weight class. That wasn't the case prior to the 2016 Olympics in Brazil when Mensah-Stock won the U.S. Olympic Trials but didn't qualify her weight.
The U.S. Olympic Trials will be held in April.
In the World Wrestling Championships gold-medal finals, Mensah-Stock showed skill, power and poise in defeating 2012 World champion and 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Jenny Fransson of Sweden, 8-2.
Mensah-Stock's final was typical of the kind of high-caliber wrestling she has done all of 2019, where she has been unbeaten all year.
Her offense was excellent in the first period, as she scored on three different takedown attacks to take a 6-0 lead into the break. In the second period, when Fransson hit a headlock for two points, Mensah-Stock came out with a reversal. Sweden challenged the call, hoping for more points, but it was denied on video review, giving Mensah-Stock her final point. Fransson's attempts for an upper body throw in the closing moments were blocked effectively.
Mensah-Stock punched her ticket to the finals with a dominant 10-0 technical fall over Anna Schell of Germany in the semifinals on Thursday night.
In the quarterfinals, Mensah-Stock was in command the entire match on the way to a 10-1 victory over 2016 Olympic champion and 2017 World champion Sara Dosho of Japan. She also defeated nine-time African champion Blessing Oborududu of Nigeria, 6-1 and Oceania champion Michelle Yvonne Montague of New Zealand by a 10-0 technical fall on Thursday.
Mensah-Stock now owns two career Senior World medals, along with a 2018 World bronze medal.
This is the first time that USA Wrestling has had three World Champions in women's freestyle the same year. Mensah-Stock joined five-time World champion Adeline Gray at 76 kg and Jacarra Winchester at 55 kg at the top of the podium this year.
The U.S. placed third in the team standings with 105 points. Japan won the team title with 137 points, Russia was second with 108 points. Mensah-Stock's win in the finals gave the USA five additional points, which allowed the team to pass China, which finished fourth with 102 points.
The U.S. has won a team trophy each year of this Olympic cycle, placing second in 2017, and third in 2018 and 2019.
It was a second straight night of history making for the USA women's team. On Thursday, Adeline Gray became the first U.S. wrestler to win five career World Championships gold medals with her victory at 76 kg.
(Gary Abbott of USA Wrestling provided most of the information for this article).
