All 5 of our guys made the semis today. Amazing showing. Gabe Tagg beat a good Iranian in the quarters and has Japan in the semis. I don't see that going well for him. (UPDATE: He got teched). The heavy hitters were in the opposite half of the bracket though. If Zhelep of Ukraine makes it to the finals and wins he'll likely have faced the best 4 guys in the bracket and beaten them all if he wins. David Carr beat the Russian who was a returning bronze medalist in the opening round. Beat Iran in the next round but I don't think he was the strongest of Iranians. In the semis he has Gadzhiyev of AZE who is the returning gold medalist from 70kg. He's also had a nice senior level career early on, winning AZE's sr level spot at world's last year, then taking 5th at SR Euros this year and winning bronze at the Euro Games earlier this summer. I do not expect Carr to win that one unfortunately. (UPDATE: He won 10-0 very quickly and I am dumb. He has Japan in the finals and I predict a gold medal for the USA) Trent Hidlay teched China and Ukraine and beat Iran soundly. He has Russia in the semifinals and once again I predict a loss. Of the 4 wrestlers remaining in the semis Hidlay is by far the least credentialed. (UPDATE: Hidlay loses to Russia 4-3 in the semis). Lucas Davison beat Viky of IND in the quarters, who was a heavy favorite to meet Russia in the finals. He has Mongolia in the semis and I'm a lot more optimistic than I was about him beating Viky, but regardless, I see Russia beating Lucas to win the gold. (UPDATE: Davison makes the finals by pinning Mongolia!) Mason Parris beat Georgia and Mongolia to make the semis, which was not a very tough draw. He has Turkey in the Semis and I think he will WIN that match to make the Junior world finals. Iran-Russia is in the bottom half though and those two are the top 2 guys at the weight imo. (UPDATE: He techs turkey 13-2 to make the finals and will face the favorite at the weight, Zare of Iran, for the right to wear Gold. I think Mason makes a match out of it.) Overall I'm predicting 3 bronze and 2 silver.
Was just coming to post this, was wondering what he was going to do. Is it weird that he didn’t compete this summer in freestyle?
Might have been a little nicked up, not positive on that though. Christian Pyles is usually the go-to guy for all things VT related, will ask him. I understand if he wasn't all too eager to jump in there with Burroughs or IMar, but I would have liked to see him go for the U23 team. Or even defend his JR world title. Will be fun to see him in there with Burroughs, IMar, and Dake next year, even if he's not going to necessarily win those matches. Imma watch em anyway.
Yeah I was surprised he didn’t attempt anything at all. Haven’t see my guy I know that works with the team in a while so not up on what’s happened this summer. Robie’s quotes today make it sound like after sitting those events lit and watching them gave him the drive to try for the Olympics. Excited to see what he does regardless. If he wants to get to that level why not take advantage of this time to get better and set himself up for a good shot in 2024 when he would be 24-25 years old or so?
I went back and checked because I remember hearing something about it. He wasn't injured, he was burnt out and they wanted to give him a break. He trained all of last summer for JR world trials, went through the ringer, made the team, trained for the competition, won that, and went straight into his senior season. Took the summer off, all good on the injury front.
David Carr becomes the 74kg Junior World Champ, 4th year in a row for Americans at 74kg after Hall and Mekhi. Impressive stuff, like the Japanese lightweights or the Russians everywhere, mini-dynasty
Always a fun night of wrestling. My most anticipated matchups: 1. Saunders v Echemendia 2. Paddy v O'Toole 3. Howard v Mastro 4. Bartlett v Sokol But you can make an argument for any of the 13 matches. Gonna be good. Match Order 132: #1 Jesse Mendez, IN vs #4 Ryan Jack, CT 132: #2 Dom Serrano, CO vs #3 Shayne Van Ness, NJ 120: #1 Jesse Ybarra, AZ vs #2 Jakason Burks, NE 113: #1 Richard Figueroa, CA vs #2 Stevo Poulin, NY 145: #1 Victor Voinovich, OH vs #2 Jesse Vasquez, CA 65kg: Josh Saunders, MO vs Anthony Echemendia, AZ 152: #1 Sonny Santiago, CA vs #2 Travis Mastrogiovanni, NJ 160: #1 Paddy Gallagher, OH vs #2 Keegan O'Toole, WI 182: #1 Dustin Plott, OK vs #2 Rocky Elam, MO 126: #1 Robbie Howard, NJ vs #2 Trevor Mastrogiovanni, NJ 138: #1 Beau Bartlett, PA vs #2 Ryan Sokol, MN 170: #1 Alex Facundo, MI vs #2 Patrick Kennedy, MN 132: Mendez/Jack vs Serrano/Van Ness
And there it is. Yianni wins the arbitration case. He'll have to win two consecutive matches, but that's pretty doable considering how he's fared against Zain. You can make an argument that he's won 3 out of 4.
Fwiw I heard that if they were to rewrestle any matches, the last weekend in August was the target date. So don't make plans August 31.
Even if the scoring overturn was right, technically(and I don't think it was, but there's at least a case for that), the changing of a score a minute earlier, with no clock left, was obscenely ridiculous and had to overturned. Hopefully Zain's not too injured to give it his best shot. Even if I think Yianni has a better shot to medal, or at least qualify the weight, that's tough on Zain given the time lapse and injury. Just a ridiculous situation that should never have been allowed to happen
I still think it was Yianni's points. Even if it wasn't though, you clearly cannot await the outcome of a 1 minute scramble, and after the match ends in your opponents favor, challenge action that occurred almost a minute earlier. In my world that's called a free roll. Zain is lucky it's not 1-1 imo.
Feels like they really got their best possible lineup at the Olympic Weights, 4 newcomers to the senior world scene at the non-Olympic weights as well. Shocking stuff here, but they are overwhelming favorites in the team race. My off-the-cuff look 57kg - Talked about this earlier, but wow is this weight stacked. Uguev a slight favorite, especially after smashing Tyutrin, but this weight is going to be a mad house. Uguev and Takahashi on the bottom half, top half with Sanayev and Atli(the guys that beat Gilman last year). Draws will be huge here, for qualification purposes. Any one of the top seeds could get a hammer draw just to get to the quarters. Can't really give Fix odds without seeing that first 61kg - Pretty cleared out here, Idrisov obviously a favorite, Graff doesn't look up to the quality needed to medal, Lomatadze may be going down as well? 65kg - Deepest weight by miles. With Chakaev losing out and Rashidov not getting a seed, the top 4 not reflective of the talent. Aliev, Valdes Tobier, Rashidov, Yianni/Zain, Khinchegasvhili all going to be unseeded. Impossible to pick a winner and feel great, hell, getting 2 medalists right without seeing the draw would be a fluke. 70kg - Again, pretty cleared out, so this one will depend on who stays here from GEO, AZE, IRI, etc... Baev winning a spot a bit of a surprise but always a talented dude. James Green has not looked up to world medalist quality in about 18 months, even at a non-olympic weight at the end of the cycle 74kg - Round 2 of this big 3, Chamizo getting the top seed and sending Burroughs/Sidakov to the same half was big for his chances. Kentchadze an up and comer, plus a load of solid vets could spoil the party, but it would be pretty shocking if the winner wasn't from those 3 past World Champs. Most accurately seeded weight IMO 79kg - Dake/Dieringer, either is a solid favorite to win, Hasaynov and some other solid vets, decent young prospects in the other Kentchadze and Teymouri, but Dieringer has run the circuit and looks ready if he gets it done this weekend. Nabiev an interesting young Russian, first time at the big show 86kg - Weakest of the Olympic Weights with DT down - Seeds all out of whack too, Erdin an uninspiring #1, Makoev is still riding that fluke silver 2 years ago, weird as a #2, Yazdani at #3, and Punia at #4 did just win Junior Worlds unless that's a different Deepak Punia. He also handled Downey at the Dogu. Pretty much comes down to when Naifonov/Yazdani happens. 92kg - Easily the deepest of the non-olympic weights. Cox and Karimimachiani have looked great all year after being the best 2 at this weight last year, Zhabrailov's had a great year but doesn't seem like he's ever competed at worlds, age group or otherwise, might be some spelling differences. Sharifov did beat him and he's still solid as hell, some doesn't young guys from Georgia and India as well 97kg - Round 3, love having 2 fantastic rivalries at the big boy weights. Sadulaev has done nothing but crush everyone in his path since the loss to Snyder in Paris, hard to see any other outcome but doubting Kyle Snyder has never been especially fruitful. Some other dudes, but, really, no one else worth talking about... except the return of Reza Yazdani, will be fun to see what he has left after being one of the most exciting dudes in the world 10 years ago. 125kg - As great as Snyder/Sadulaev is, Akgul/Petriashvili might be better. Between them 5 straight titles and on opposite sides of the bracket this time thanks to the seeding process. Really deep for 125kg, Hadi and Khizriev look good, plenty of other solid vets out there too. Gwiz gets the #4 seed, but absent a god draw in his quarter of the bracket, I'm not seeing another medal here. Weight keeps getting deeper and he really hasn't beaten anyone in the top 10.
Nice write up! Couple thoughts: 65kg: don't know if khinch is a threat anymore, sadly. He got revenge against Chakaev at Euro Games this year, but how many big wins does he have since bronze in Paris in 2017? He could medal but I would hesitate to call him a top 5-7 threat for gold. I'd take Yianni over Khinch. You didn't even mention Bajrang or Otoguro who have proven they can beat anyone. What a sick, sick weight. Gonna be so many fun matchups there. My pick was Valdes Tobier last year and I think he's too good not to win one eventually, so I'm going with him on the off chance that this is the year. 70kg is kinda a dumpster fire of a weight. Baev, Iakobishvili, Kaya, and Gadzhiyev are the top guys at the weight and they've all taken losses (and several to each other). I've got Dave Bave until further notice. 86kg disagree that it's weaker than 70 or 79. It still has star power up top in HYC. Naifonov is a proven star for me as well, he just hasn't had the chance to do it at SR worlds yet. He rarely, rarely loses. 92kg - might be a spelling issue on Zhabrailov. The russians spell it Jabrailov. He won U23 Gold a couple years back in a kinda stacked weight class that included Ali Karimi, Dauletbekov, and Deepak Punia. He is very legit. I do think this is J'den's weight to lose, but you never know if you're getting 2017 J'den or 2016/2018 J'den. I think he wins it personally. 125kg: Agreed except Gwiz does have plenty of top 10 wins. He has wins over pretty much everybody except Akgul and Petriashvili (and Deng I suppose). He's beaten Hadi, he's beaten Khizriev, Mohebbi, Ligeti, Khugaev....most of the top 10 guys. He just can't crack the top 2. And he'll take losses obviously.
Otoguro was my favorite wrestler to watch At worlds last year, every match was insane. I’m with you though, Valdes Tobier is my early pick. He’s incredible, lost a brutal match to Bajrang. Want to watch every match at that weight somehow.
I still don't know if I'm going to be able to watch any matches on saturday or sunday. Gonna be on a flight to Hawaii.
Dake just shut it down in that match, gave absolutely nothing. That's the dude that gave up 0 points at Worlds.
Dake just too strong, dominates all ties/positions, gives nothing to score from. He's the best in the world, still, at 79. Dieringer is in the same kind of position Taylor/Dake found themselves in previously. World Championship caliber wrestler with no spot.
Lotta rumors the last few weeks that OKST leads for both AJ Ferrari and Braxton Amos, who both seemed destined for 197 pounds. The rumors indicated, however, that the scenario would involve Amos going 197 and Ferrari dropping down to 184. Ferrari just gave an interview today where he said that he's currently 220 pounds, but that he's obsessed with working out and wants to get up to the 250-255 range. He did say he wants to drop down to 97kg (213 lbs) for a 2020 olympic run (good luck kid). So while it does not appear that there's any chance that Ferrari will ever wrestle at 184, OKST could potentially land both Amos and Ferrari, with the former going 197 and the latter heavyweight. Goodness that would be a stacked room of upperweights with Plott and Wittlake.
This is a huge pickup. Shumate is a true blue chip recruit, ranked #3 overall in 2022 which I think is a fair ranking. Would make losing out on Amos/Ferrari more palatable for the Buckeyes.
Labor, Zain and Yianni parts 5/6. 3pm EST in Wilkes-Barre, Zain up 1-0 in the best of 3. Hope he's healthy after the knee injury
Flo just released their new 2022 rankings and they have bumped Seth Shumate up to the #1 ranked wrestler in the nation. Dat boy good. Jason Renteria leaves Iowa (shocker!) and Ryan Sokol (#10 ranked overall JR) decommits from Iowa. Sokol visited OSU this weekend so obviously there's some smoke that OSU leads. Hearing that OSU has moved up on the board of #10 SR Jesse Vazquez as well. Kaid Brock out for the year with an ACL unfortunately. Yianni-Zain in 6 days. Excited for that one.
Sounds like Iran's two upperweights are OUT of worlds. Reza Yazdani and Parviz Hadi are injured and will not compete. That's too bad, was really looking forward to seeing them wrestle.
Reza Yazdani's career is a bit of a tragedy that way, burst onto the scene with power and technique, world champ at a young age and then his body starts to betray him. Sucks to see Saw on Flo that Khizriev is out at 125 too, if that is true Gwiz's chances went way up
Zain shuts Yianni down, takes the world team spot at the craziest weight in the world. Another great game plan from Zain, stayed away from the scrambles that Yianni loves, tight defense.
Zain wrestled a great match, this is the best he's looked BY FAR imo. I still think Yianni poses the greater threat internationally because of his style, but Zain left no doubt today that he deserves to be there. Excited to see what he can do in Nur Sultan. An aside--is it me or has Zain gotten really big? Maybe it's because he's wrestling 6 pounds lighter and he's looking extra lean, but I can't remember him looking so huge at PSU.
I thought Yianni had a much better shot, though either would be long odds given the absolute hammers at 65 but what I saw today from Zain went some distance to changing my mind. If he can wrestle a tighter, more controlled match and keep guys off his legs(a problem he had in international competition in the past, partly from how comfortable he was turning defense into points) he’s got a shot. Don’t want him getting into shootouts with Rashidov or Otoguro, keep the pace down and the scoring opportunities at a minimum and that’s the ticket I think.
A few years ago when he sat out freestyle season you said he was fat and should focus on making weight.
I fucking love Yianni but he needs to be more than an insanely good scrambler with a motor that never ends. Zain put his style on check today.