BELGRADE, Serbia – Utah Valley University redshirt junior Taylor LaMont will wrestle for a bronze medal at the U23 World Championships in Greco-Roman competition on Tuesday after falling in the semifinals to Iran's Poya Dad Marz on Monday in Belgrade. 
 
The 2021 All-American and Big 12 finalist opened his 2021 U23 World Championship run by recording back-to-back wins to advance to the semifinals at 55 kilos (121 lbs.) at the 23-and-Under World Championship event. 
 
LaMont opened with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Moldova's Aritom Deleanu to move on to the quarterfinals. In his opener, both grapplers scored points on passivity calls to tie the match at 1-1. LaMont's second-period passivity point proved to be the difference in the bout as he went on to win by a score of 2-1. Down on criteria, Deleanu had to attempt a throw with the clock winding down, but LaMont managed to fight it off as he held on to win on criteria.
 
He then advanced on to face Georgia's Giorgi Tokhadze in the quarterfinals. Trailing early in the bout by a score of 3-0, LaMont managed to storm back en route to doubling up Tokhadze on the scoreboard and winning by a score of 6-3. Down 3-0, LaMont turned things around by forcing four straight step-outs to take a 4-3 lead. He later added a passivity point in the second period to go up 5-3 and capped the scoring when a late challenge from the Georgia corner was for naught to win 6-3 and move on to the semifinals.
 
Then later in the day in the semifinal session, LaMont matched up with Dad Marz from Iran. Dad Marz took the upper hand early with a passivity point followed by a pair of gut wrenches to take a quick 5-0 advantage. LaMont later got a point back on a passivity call in the second period to make it 5-1, but he couldn't manage to erase the deficit as Dad Marz held on by a score of 5-1 to advance to the championship finals. 
 
With the semifinal setback, LaMont will now wrestle for bronze on Tuesday against opponent to be determined after Tuesday's repechage round. LaMont is a former World Bronze medalist at the Junior level in 2016. This year's competition marks the eighth straight time that LaMont has competed for Team USA in his age-group World Championship (three times at Cadet Worlds, three times at Junior Worlds and now two times at U23 Worlds).
 
LaMont isn't the only competitor with Utah Valley ties to compete this year at the 2021 U23 World Championships, as former Wolverine and current Brunson UVRTC grappler Dylan Gregerson will begin his 2021 World Championship run on Tuesday in Greco at 60 kg (132 lbs.). 
 
Tuesday's action will begin at 3:30 a.m. MT/10:30 a.m. in Serbia. Gregerson will take part in Tuesday's first session while LaMont's bronze medal match will be held in the medal session on Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. MT/6 p.m. in Serbia. Fans can watch the entire 2021 U23 World Championships live on FloWrestling.
 
U.S. Greco-Roman Group One results
55kg: Taylor Lamont (Mapleton, Utah/Sunkist Kids WC)
WIN Aritom Deleanu (Moldova), 2-1
WIN Giorgi Tokhadze (Georgia), 6-3
LOSS Poya Dad Marz (Iran), 5-1
Bronze medal match – opponent to be determined
 
Tuesday morning U.S. pairings for Group Two in Greco-Roman
60kg: Dylan Gregerson (Bluffdale, Utah/Brunson UVRTC)
Vs. Mehdi Mohsen Nejad (Iran), Third at 2019 U23 Worlds, Third at 2018 U23 Worlds