Oklahoma State wrestling: Daton Fix to compete at World Championships

Oklahoma State redshirt sophomore Daton Fix begins his quest for gold at 57 kilograms in men’s freestyle at the United World Wrestling World Championship on Thursday in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.

Fix, who is ranked No. 7, received his draw on the bottom half of the bracket Wednesday and will face North Macedonia’s Vladimir Egorov in his first match of the tournament. A victory could set Fix up for a second-round bout against No. 9-ranked and 2017 World champion Yuki Takahashi of Japan.

There are three top-10 ranked wrestlers Fix could meet in the semifinals: No. 1 Zaur Uguev of Russia (’18 World champ), No. 3 Mahir Amiraslanov of Azerbaijan (’19 European champ) and No. 10 Erdenebatyn Bekhbayar of Mongolia (’15 and ’17 World bronze). Uguev and Amiraslanov will likely meet after the qualify round and the winner is expected to face Bekhbayar in the second round.

Fix, who was the Big 12 champion and NCAA runner-up at 133 pounds last season, earned his spot on the U.S. World team by defeating 2017 World silver medalist Thomas Gilman in a best-of-three series at Final X Lincoln in June. The Cowboy then outscored his opponents 25-1, including a 11-0 victory over Juan Ramirez Beltre of the Dominican Republic in the finals, to win the Pan American Games in August in his senior-level tournament debut.

The men’s freestyle competition begins at midnight Central time Thursday with qualifying rounds. The event can be watched on TrackWrestling.com.

Mike Malinconico/FloWrestling