Baku, Azerbaijan -  Former Oklahoma State All-America wrestler Daniel Cormier became the first American to win a freestyle medal at the 2007 FILA World Wrestling Championships when he claimed the bronze at 96kg Friday after picking up a 1-0, 0-1, 1-0 win over Kyrgyzstan’s Alexey Krupnyakov in the bronze medal match. With the win, Cormier claimed the first international-level medal of his career. “We were really dedicated in our training for this,” Cormier said Friday. “I came home last week and every day there was someone there to train with. Some of the time it was with Coach Smith, other times with Eric Guerrero and other times with Zack Esposito. Having that kind of support was very helpful to me. I talked to Coach Smith last night and he told me that I need to just go out and wrestle. He said that I have trained hard for this all year and now it is just time to go out and do it.” Making the win more significant is the fact that Cormier’s victory avenged an earlier loss to Krupnyakov at the 2005 FILA World Championships. “It was tough,” Cormier said. “It was a scrap. I had to come out and wrestle. This was the same guy who beat me a couple years ago at the World Championships so it was good to exact a little revenge this time around.” Cormier’s route to the bronze medal started with a first-round bye, then he stormed past Australia’s Ian Wardell, 6-0, 6-0 in his opening match. Cormier followed that dominating performance by rallying to knock off Belarus’ Ruslan Sheykhov in his second match. Sheykhov took the first period, 1-0, but Cormier responded by winning the second period, 1-0 and the decisive third period by a 4-0 margin. The 2001 NCAA runner-up while at OSU, Cormier sustained his only setback of the World Championships when he lost a 5-0, 2-1 decision to Iran’s Saeid Abrahimi. Abrahimi figured to be stiff competition for Cormier, as Abrahimi won the gold medal at the 2005 Asian Championships. Following his loss to Abrahimi, Cormier was moved into the wrestleback, where he handed Japan’s Kiyotaka Kodaira a 3-0, 6-0 beating in his first match before picking up his medal-winning victory over Krupnyakov. “Daniel has worked very hard for this moment and it has paid off in a big way,” Oklahoma State Head Coach John Smith said. “This will give him great motivation going into this coming Olympic year.” “It was nice to pick up this medal, but it is not the end goal,” Cormier said. “I want a gold next time.” Oklahoma State’s Daniel Cormier At The 2007 FILA Senior World Championships First Round – Bye Second Round – Defeated Ian Wardell (AUS): 6-0, 6-0 Third Round – Defeated Ruslan Sheykhov (BEL): 0-1, 1-0. 4-0 Quarterfinal Round – Lost to Saeid Abrahimi (IRN): 0-5, 1-2 Wrestleback Semifinal – Defeated Kiyotaka Kodaira (JPN): 3-0, 6-0 Bronze Medal Match – Defeated Alexey Krupnyakov (KGZ): 1-0, 0-1, 1-0 Daniel Cormier Wrestling Highlights 2007 World Championships - Bronze Medal 2007 Pan America Games - Bronze Medal 2004 Olympic Games – Fourth Place 2003 World Championships – Fifth Place 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 – U.S. Nationals Champion 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 – U.S. World Team Member 2003 – Pan American Games – Gold Medal 2001 NCAA Championships – Runner-up while at Oklahoma State