Double American Olympic medalist Kyle Snyder dominated his match on Wednesday and the United States claimed four gold medals on the first day of wrestling at the Pan American Games.
In the first fight of the day held at the Olympic Training Center, Snyder, who won a gold medal in Rio 2016 and then added a silver medal in Tokyo 2020, had no problem defeating Cuban Arturo Silot 14-4 in the 97 kilograms division.
Snyder, 27, was also the world champion at the Belgrade World Cup last year and is a heavy favorite for gold in his weight class.
In that division, Canadian Nishan Randhawa defeated Costa Rican Maxwell Lacey 7-6 and Venezuelan Cristián Sarco defeated Chilean MatÃas Uribe 10-0 to take the bronze.
Later, his compatriot Mason Parris, bronze medalist in this year’s World Cup, had a complicated fight, but defeated the Venezuelan José DÃaz 2-0 at 125 kilograms.
In that weight, the bronze went to Argentine Catriel Muriel, who defeated Puerto Rican Jonovan Smith 7-6, while Jamaican Aaron Johnson defeated Elison Adames, 5-1.
Soon, Zane Richards had no problem either and beat Venezuelan Óscar Tigreros 10-0 to win the gold medal at 57 kilograms. In that weight, Puerto Rican Darian Cruz won the bronze medal by defeating Dominican Juan RamÃrez, who did not appear.
The other bronze went to Cuban Osmany Diversent, who defeated Argentine Hernán Almendra 2-0.
In the final medal fight, Tyler Berger defeated Cuban Franklin Marén to win the gold medal at 74 kilograms.
The bronzes were won by Venezuelan Anthony Montero, who defeated Mexican Anthony Valencia 7-2, and Canadian Adam Thomson, who defeated Honduran Luis Barrios 6-4.
In Santiago 2023, the United States seeks to increase its dominance in the discipline where it topped the medal table in Toronto 2015 and Lima 2019. The last time the Americans surrendered first place in wrestling was Guadalajara 2011, where Cuba finished above them.
