After breezing her way through the first two rounds — both against accomplished opponents — Tamyra Mensah-Stock delivered a third dominant win for the United States Monday to reach to the women's freestyle 68kg wrestling final.
Mensah-Stock topped Ukrainian wrestler Alla Cherkasova 10-4 to clinch her spot in Tuesday's championship.
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The wrestler is from Katy, Texas. She rolled through her early opponents in the bracket, first beating Japan's Sara Dosho (10-0 VSU) — the defending gold medal winner in the event — and then China's Zhou Feng (10-0 VSU) — the second-place finisher in the 2015 world championships — in the quarterfinals.
Tamyra Mensah-Stock has a chance at gold in women's freestyle 68kg wrestling
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The 28-year-old Mensah-Stock is slated to face Nigeria's Blessing Oborududu on Tuesday with a gold medal up for grabs.
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Mensah-Stock failed to qualify for a spot on the 2016 Rio Olympics team
She won the 68kg category at the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2016 but still failed to qualify for a spot on the team at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The wrestler nonetheless traveled to Rio, serving as a training partner for her teammates.
Over last five years, the US Olympian has risen high in the wrestling world
Over the five years since, she has risen even higher in the wrestling world.
In 2018, Mensah-Stock took home a bronze medal from the 2018 World Championships in Budapest. Cherkasova won gold for Ukraine that year — but Mensah-Stock hadn't gotten a chance to face her, going along the opposite side of the bracket.
The American rose all the way a year later, becoming a world champion at the 2019 tournament in Kazakhstan.
How to watch Tamyra Mensah-Stock in the women's 68kg final
Tamyra Mensah-Stock is set to compete for the gold medal in the women's 68kg on Tuesday, Aug. 3 at 8:15 a.m. ET.
The wrestling finals in Tokyo can be viewed on the Olympic Channel or streamed lived here.