Coon Captures 130kg Greco-Roman Silver at World Championships
10/28/2018 12:14:00 PM | Wrestling
BUDAPEST, Hungary -- University of Michigan graduate Adam Coon captured the 130kg/286-pound silver medal at the 2018 UWW World Wrestling Championships on Sunday (Oct. 28) at the Papp Laszlo Arena. It was the first world medal for an American in Greco-Roman wrestling since 2015 and the first to reach the world finals since 2009.
Coon fell to Russia's Sergey Semenov, 9-0, in the gold-medal match after twice getting thrown to his back in the first period. It was his second international meeting against Semenov, who also defeated him in the 2014 Junior World Championships.
Coon pinned his way into the final with four straight falls yesterday on the bottom half of the bracket.
He defeated Korea's Min-Seok Kim, who placed third at the 2018 Asian Games, in the semifinals with a fall early in the second period. Coon scored on a passivity and a caution and two to lead 3-0 at the break, before countering a throw with a body lock early in the second, running Kim to his back and picking up the fall at the 3:42 mark.
Coon also earned a solid win with a first-period fall against Germany's Eduard Popp, who took fifth at the 2016 Olympics and won a 2010 Junior World bronze, in the quarterfinals. Coon was on the board first, drawing a passivity point from Popp, but the German took over with a reversal and tacked on a gut wrench for a 3-1 lead. With just over 30 seconds left in the first period, Coon launched Popp with a body lock and got the fall at 2:32.
Coon is now a cadet, junior and senior world medalist. He captured 2011 Cadet freestyle gold and claimed double bronze in junior freestyle and Greco-Roman in 2014 before winning his senior-level silver today.
The last American to capture a Greco-Roman world title is another Wolverine alumni, Joe Warren, who won at 60kg/132 pounds in 2006.
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