Oklahoma State’s Daton Fix wins 55-kilogram Junior World gold medal

Oklahoma State freshman Daton Fix defeated Russia’s Smail Gadzhiev 12-1 to win the 55-kilogram men’s freestyle Junior World Championship gold medal Wednesday in Tampere, Finland.

Gadzhiev was the only wrestler to score a point on Fix, who registered five technical superiority victories during the tournament. He outscored his competition 53-1 in the tournament.

Fix scored his first takedown against Gadzhiev only nine seconds in and built his lead to 6-1 at the end of the first period. Less than a minute into the second period, Fix scored another takedown and continued to push the pace before grabbing a takedown with 1 minute, 45 seconds left in the match for the technical fall.

Fix breezed through the bottom side of the bracket by scoring 41 points en route to the gold-medal match. His four-match run was highlighted by a 10-0 shutout against returning Junior World champion Afgan Khashalov in the round of 16.

Fix adds a world gold to a collection that includes a Cadet world bronze medal in 2015 and Junior world bronze medal in 2016. The United States claimed the team championship by edging Russia 68-67. Iran was third.

Gable Stevenson, who is entering his freshman season at Minnesota, won gold at 120kg and Mark Hall, who won the 174-pound NCAA championship as a freshman at Penn State last spring, took gold at 74kg.

The former Sand Springs standout Fix heads to Oklahoma State this fall after finishing his high school career with a 168-0 record and winning four individual state championships.