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HERNING, Denmark — Just four years ago, Tervel Dlagnev placed sixth at the NCAA Division II meet for the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
Now he’s a World Championships bronze medalist.
Dlagnev showed how far he has come in a short period of time during his first appearance at the World Championships. Dlagnev defeated Georgia’s Alex Modebadze 2-0, 2-0 on Tuesday in the bronze-medal freestyle match at 264.5 pounds.
“I’ve definitely come a long way,” Dlagnev said. “I still have a long way to go. I obviously didn’t get the color I wanted. It definitely was nice to get on the podium though.”
Dlagnev, a two-time NCAA Division II champion, powered in to score on a succession of single-leg shots that resulted in takedowns.
He looked dominant in advancing to the semifinals before dropping a 1-0, 1-0 decision to Olympic fifth-place finisher Faroud Masoumi of Iran.
“The Iranian is pretty athletic,” Dlagnev said. “I’ve got to get back to the video with the Iranian. I feel like the couple of opportunities I had to score, I didn’t. I had some good ones.”
The Bulgarian native, who grew up in Texas, roared back two hours later to earn his bronze medal.
“I’ve made a full commitment to freestyle wrestling,” Dlagnev said. “I’ve put on the weight I needed to so I can compete with the bigger guys at this level. I’ve worked on my technique, been around the best coaches and put myself in the right environment to be successful.”
Dlagnev won the second U.S. medal of the day just a short time after Jake Herbert captured a silver medal at 185 pounds.
“I’m really happy for Jake,” Dlagnev said. “He really pumped me up every time I watched him go out there.”
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