Travis Stevens is peaking at the right time. The two-time Olympian won the World Masters on Saturday and is poised to challenge for a medal in Rio later this summer. Stevens path to gold in Guadalajara was not devoid of drama. He won his opening match when it was decided on shido penalties and he had one less, 3-2. He was down in shidos 3-0 in the quarterfinals before a late ippon overturned that to give him the win. Ultimately though Stevens came through when it counted and scored ippons in the quarterfinals, semifinals (over Greece’s Roman Moustopoulos), and final (over Belgium’s Joachim Bottieau) to grab gold.

The US certainly has another shot at gold on Sunday as 2012 gold medalist Kayla Harrison competes in the women’s -78kg division. The final US competitor is Colton Brown in the men’s -90kg division. Brown just finished seventh in the judo grand prix event in Almaty last weekend.

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Friday Update