Alex Dieringer atop the 86 kg men’s freestyle podium at the Dan Kolov – Nikola Petrov International.
Dieringer sails to gold medal at Dan Kolov – Nikola Petrov International
by Richard Immel, USA Wrestling
SOFIA, Bulgaria – It was a return to form for U.S. National Team member Alex Dieringer at the Dan Kolov – Nikola Petrov International this weekend. The powerful American breezed to the 86 kg gold medal in men’s freestyle on Sunday at Asics Arena Sport Hall in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Dieringer, a 2013 U20 World silver medalist, picked up four wins throughout his tournament, two technical falls and two pins. He punctuated the event with a 10-0 technical fall over 2021 U23 World champion Mukhammed Aliev of Ukraine in the finals.
He opened his time in Sofia with a quick 13-2 technical fall over 2021 European bronze medalist Alans Amirovs of Latvia. Next on his hit list were Bulgaria’s Slavi Stamenov and Ukraine’s Vladyslav Prus—Dieringer pinned both in under one minute.
This gold medal pushed Dieringer’s international tally of medal stand toppers to eight. He has bagged gold at several of the top international majors including Yasar Dogu, Bill Farrell Memorial International, Alexander Medved International and Outstanding Ukrainian Memorial. He has now won the Dan Kolov – Nikola Petrov International twice.
In recent outings, Dieringer finished as runner-up to fellow American Trent Hidlay at the Bill Farrell Memorial International in November. One month later, he rebounded nicely with a first-place finish at the U.S. Senior Nationals in Fort Worth, Texas, that included a 6-0 win over three-time age-group World champion Mark Hall in the finals.
Northern Michigan’s David Stepanian was the single entrant on the Greco-Roman side in group three. He went 0-1 at 61 kg, falling in the first round to Haonan Liu of China, 9-0.
Group three weight classes in action at the Dan Kolov – Nikola Petrov International included women’s freestyle 50 kg, 53 kg and 57 kg, men’s freestyle 86 kg, 97 kg and 125 kg, and Greco-Roman 60 kg, 67 kg and 77 kg. Medal winners for each group three bracket can be found below.
The U.S. earned three medals in addition to Dieringer’s gold out in Bulgaria. In women’s freestyle, Dymond Guilford won gold at 76 kg and Alex Hedrick took silver at 55 kg. The lone Greco-Roman medal came from Josef Rau, who earned bronze at 97 kg.
The Bulgarian Wrestling Federation posted complete results and archived match video of the event at bul-wrestling.org.