Home

Olympics

American Wrestler Alan Vera Secures Paris Olympics 2024 Spot After Dominating Performance at Pan Am Qualifiers

Published 02/28/2024, 8:28 PM EST

Follow Us

American wrestling sensation Alan Vera has earned a hard-fought victory at the Pan Am Olympic Qualifiers. The 97kg Greco-Roman wrestler won the semi-final round at the event to seal America’s berth at the upcoming Paris Olympics 2024.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

USA Wrestling announced the celebratory news via a tweet on X and wrote, “Alan Vera finishes 2-0 at the Pan American Olympic Games Qualifier to earn @TeamUSA a 2024 Olympic Games quota in Greco-Roman wrestling at 97 kg! 🇺🇸.” The American won his bout with a massive score of 7-1 against his Venezuelan opponent Luillys Perez Mora.

With this victory, Vera is just one final step away from making it to the Paris Olympics 2024. Interestingly, Vera moved up a weight class but still managed to secure an overwhelming victory. Moreover, the Cuban-turned-American grappler was cruising through his campaign in easy mode.

Vera achieved a quick 10-0 technical victory over Max Madrid De Leon from Panama to start his Paris Olympics 2024 journey. He almost replicated this success against 2016 Olympian Luillys Perez Mora from Venezuela. Shortly after the start of the semifinal match, Vera was given the opportunity to do a par terre and he maximized his capitalization of it. 

He gathered two intense and distressing situations, then swiftly lifted and threw them away. Following a short challenge from the Venezuela corner, Vera was leading with a score of 7-0. Vera easily won the rest of the match with a final score of 7-1. Interestingly, this is the second time Vera faced the Venezuelan within a week and maintained his dominance over him. However, the American and his coaches were extremely careful about the whole operation.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Vera delivers on his coaches’ Paris Olympics 2024 aspirations

Alan Vera and Luillys Perez Mora faced off against each other at the Pan Am Championship Games. The contest saw the American wrestler win the silver medal and stand on top of Mora. Notably, Vera didn’t just win via brute force and planned this victory ahead with his coaches. Moreover, he also put his Pan Am medal on the line to clinch a Paris Olympics 2024 berth.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Speaking to USA Wrestling after his match, Vera said, “To be honest, last week we didn’t try 100% because we know this could be the the rival qualifier. And, I just follow the game plan with my coaches. Uh, I believe myself even so I believe in more so the coaches they believe in more than me.” Now that his Paris Olympics 2024 game plan worked, he will be even more keen to conquer the trials and reach the mats of Paris. Will the strong strategist be able to claim the top Olympic gold this year?

Trending

Get instantly notified of the hottest Olympics stories via Google! Click on Follow Us and Tap the Blue Star.

Follow Us

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :

Written by:

Ankit Singh

877Articles

One take at a time

Ankit Singh is a senior Olympic Sports correspondent at EssentiallySports who covers gymnastics, track and field, and the NCAA Women's Division 1 Volleyball. In his early days at ES, Ankit covered two prime track and field events - the 2023 World Athletics Championships and the 2023 Prefontaine Classic. During the 2023 NCAA Division 1 women’s Volleyball championships, Ankit covered the Nebraska Huskers and the Wisconsin Badgers rivalry, and later covered the transfer portals after the Texas Longhorns lifted the victory.
Show More>

Edited by:

Bhujaya Ray Chowdhury