Minnesota Wrestling: Gable Steveson Wins Gold at Pan-American Championships

Is Minnesota Gophers heavyweight and NCAA Champion Gable Steveson ready for the Olympics? If this weekend is any indication we would say yet. Steveson cruised to the Gold Medal in the 2021 Pan-American Championships this past weekend going a perfect 5-0 in his matches and recording a perfect 50-0 score over the five matches.

In what was Steveson’s first competition as a member of the US senior National Team, Steveson left no doubt he was the best heavyweight wrestler in the Americas and has a serious chance to compete with the world’s best on Tokyo. In pool play Steveson won all three of his matches in less than two minutes racking up a trio of 10-0 technical fall wins over Christian Chajon Garcia of Guatamala, Santiago Hernandez of Columbia and Aly Barghout of Canada.

In the semifinals it was more of the same as he earned a 10-0 technical fall win over Mexico’s Eduardo Garcia Betanzos. He would face Bargout in a rematch in the Gold Medal match, and once again Steveson cruised to a 10-0 technical fall for the gold.

Steveson was the lone Olympian in the event, and arguably faced tougher competition in the NCAA Championships, but he appears primed and ready to take on the rest of the world in the Olympics. The wresting events in Tokyo will take place between August 1-7.