Yazdani looked a lot slimmer and not as powerful too, he’s normally had a size advantage but that was not the case this time. Wow
He has 7 titles but one was the Olympics in 2012, 6 “world championship” wins and 1 Olympic for 7 total, one more than Smith who has 6 combined
Great to see Taha back on top, he and JB winning worlds more than a decade after their first appearances is pretty wild.
Gross, Yianni, and Snyder all into the semis. Gross has former Olympic silver Higuchi, who is looking as good as ever. I don't see Gross beating him but definitely possible. Likely Atri of IRI in the finals. Yianni has Sebastian Rivera. I can't see him losing that one. Probably Aliyev in finals but Amouzad is looking great. Snyder has Mohammadian again. I don't see Snyder losing to him again, personally, but he's a very tough out. Matcharishvili-tsakulov in the other semi.
Yianni looks like a completely different wrestler this year, easily handled Tevanyan to start, who crushed him last year, and just generally controlling things without putting himself underneath guys from the feet. Gross is a wildcard but Higuchi looks incredible, looks like the guy who won gold at a loaded weight in Rio six years ago. Snyder is Snyder, obviously Mohammadian beat him badly a couple years ago but I don’t see that as too likely this morning. Obvious Russian asterisks aside, just a 10/10 performance from the US mens freestyle team. Plenty of good draws but everyone that was not already a world champion has gone up a level or two
Higuchi is so much better than Gross on their feet but Gross is just luring him into scrambling positions and he is the superior wrestler there. Great gameplan. He has a chance here.
Seabass wanted none of that action from Yianni, who looks like he’s not losing to anyone in the world this time around
Amouzad is looking incredible today. If he is not a world champion tomorrow, he will be soon. He could be the guy to beat in this division for the next decade if Russia keeps getting in shitty wars.
Something to keep in mind re: Snyder-tsakulov, is that although afaik Snyder has never faced him, Bo Nickal faced him twice, at 2013 Cadets (dec L) and 2019 U23 gold medal match (tf W). NLWC coaches should know him well. iirc Bo controlled that match with hand fighting, which bodes pretty well for Snyder.
Just realized Yianni-Amouzad is a match-up of 2x cadet world champs (although Amouzad also has JR gold)
I don’t remember him specifically, but Abakarov is clearly from the Caucasus region, right? First time I remember him competing for Albania but looks like he’s been around the block
4 NCAA titles 4 world titles where does Kyle Dake measure up all time in the US? He's way up there for me.
Ghasempour just a little too good for a really game looking J’den. Thought J’den looked the best he has in a while but Ghasempour just so strong
Matt Stencel is going to be a volunteer assistant at CMU this season Still not seeing 22-23 schedule releases yet though. Come on now
So world championships (outside of U23's next week) are over. My focus has now switched to OSU wrestling, which may not be quite as shitty as we have been the last two seasons! Definitely still a rebuilding year for the buckeyes but we will at least see a glimpse of the future, which will be nice. Here's a short preview of OSU's lightweights. 125: Malik Heinselman SR Maybe he's saving his first 2-win NCAA tourney for his SR year! Maybe! My prediction: Blood Round NCAA Champ: Spencer Lee 133: Nic Bouzakis FR/Jesse Mendez FR Likely going to be the biggest wrestle-off in recent memory for OSU fans on October 27. One blue chipper will be wrestling as a true freshman, the other will redshirt and (maybe!) start eating. Bouzakis beat Mendez 2-1 in a best of three series to make the JR world team. My prediction: Blood Round NCAA Champ: RBY 141: Dylan D'Emilio SO Losing at NCAAs to the guy you beat out for the spot is not ideal! 141 is one of the weakest weights in the country this year, though, so D'Emilio has a legit shot at AA. My prediction: Blood Round NCAA Champ: Real Woods 149: Sammy Sasso JR Unless Yianni gets bored of 149 I don't see any change here. My prediction: 3rd place NCAA Champ: Yianni Diakomihalis 157: Paddy Gallagher FR Hey, a new guy! Usually it's not a great sign when your blue chip 157 recruit gets dominated by a high schooler in a collegiate tournament, but I do believe Paddy was not 100% in the match against Levi Haines (who is a stud in his own right). I think we could see a rematch this season... My prediction: Blood Round (yes I know it's extremely unlikely 4 of the first 5 weights end up losing in the blood round, but these are my predictions not yours) 165: Carson Kharchla SO I think we'll see the same thing we saw last season. Every match against a top 10 guy will be a one-takedown match that comes down to the end of the match. He needs to take the next step and either get more aggressive, or win those match-deciding exchanges. Unfortunately for Kharchla, 165 is probably the deepest weight in the country with three NCAA champs in O'Toole, Carr, and Griffith, and three really tough high AAs in Cam Amine, Dean Hamiti, and Quincy Monday. Peyton Hall is another returning AA, Julian Ramirez is right there, and Facundo at PSU is going to be very good obviously. Monster weight. My prediction: 5th place NCAA Champ: Keegan O'Toole
Manning (and a bunch of other coaches) had his pre-season press conference today. I am ashamed to admit that I've never really sat down and listened to him before. He's fantastic! Worth a watch/listen. His portion starts at 18:00
Hokies intrasquad matchups. Weights of note for me are: 125 that’s a battle of two rFr. 141 good true freshman form Florida vs a 5 year senior. 184 Bolen back for 5th year. Sam Fisher was a JR world champion this summer. 197 Last year starter Dakota Howard bear Andy Smith when Smith got hurt, interesting he’s not going. TJ Stewart is a beast of a true freshman, but I believe the plan will be to RS him.
Bouzakis/Mendez aren’t wrestling off Plan as of now seems to be Mendez 133 this year/Bouzakis RS, Bouzakis 133/Mendez RS next year and Mendez “bulks” to 141
I saw that he’s not wrestling, will be interested to hear why the plan changed. That plan does seem to be the most logical though.
If/when the Russians are back in international competition the wrestling worlds most punchable face will not be leading them. Appears some inner turmoil has ousted Tedeev and he’s not happy lol
Not a whole lot of excitement Saturday. 125 rolled twice and went to OT 1-1 twice, second time they just put 10min on the clock and said first TD wins and we ended in a draw. So still no real separation. 141 The freshman Crook, undefeated in HS in Florida, took it to Girardi. I would have a hard time giving him a RS, will be interesting to see what they do. Bryce Andonian tweaked his foot rolling over in a scramble, finished the match, but looked like he was in major pain. 165 is likely going to be a weak spot for us this year. Bolen looked fresh, he came back because he didn’t finish last year well. Catka at HWT after a RS is exciting.