The world team trials will be contested May 20-21st, this is the last opportunity for wrestlers to book their ticket to Final X in weights where the matchups have not yet been made.
Some of the top wrestlers competing at the trials include Seth Gross, Nick Gwiazdowski, Zahid Valencia, and more. Who will book their ticket to Final X?
Greco-Roman
Dalton Duffield at 55kg fell in the finals of the US Open to Brady Koontz. He went on to win gold at the Pan-American and will be the favorite here as the entires stand to book his ticket to Final X and get the rematch.
Ildar Hafizov dropped a close one to Dalton Roberts in the US Open finals at 60kg, Hafizov made it to the finals fairly easily so he should have little to no trouble getting to Final X.
Sam Jones lost to Hayden Tuma in the finals of the US Open but should be able to get through the challenge tournament pretty handily as well.
67kg is going to be a fun weight class. Jesse Thielke and Alejandro Sancho are looking to be the top guys in the weight class. Joel Adams pinned Sancho at the US Open shocking many people and will definitely be someone to watch out for here.
At 72kg Pat Smith is going to be the unanimous favorite here for most people. He lost to Justus Scott at the US Open and will look to bounce back here and get on another world team.
77kg is another fun weight class, Jesse Porter, RaVaughn Perkins, and Aliaksandr Kikiniou are here. Bey has proven he is above the field at this point after his performance at the Open. This weight class could go many different ways depending on the day.
Ben Provisor lost to Spencer Woods at the US Open which many people were not expecting after Provisor’s dominant performances against him in the past. He should have no issue getting through the tournament and booking his ticket to Final X.
John Stefanowicz is looking like the pretty clear favorite to win the trials and get the rematch with Alan Vera at Final X. Not much to be said here except maybe Braunagel may be able to get through after a good performance at the Open.
Joe Rau is sitting in Final X after walking through the Open with ease. Boykin probably wins the trials to get the rematch with Rau at Final X but I wouldn’t see this going much differently than it did last time.
At 130kg either Adam Coon or Tanner Farmer have to be the main guys that people are looking at. Coon got dominated by Cohlton Schultz 11-0 in the finals of the US Open but was able to defeat Farmer to get to the finals. Will be interesting but Coon should be a sizable favorite.
Womens
At 55kg the bracket will most likely come down to Lauren Mason and Jacarra Winchester. Most would agree that Winchester is the favorite here and the winner will face Alisha Howk at Final X.
59kg is one of the more stacked weight classes with Alex Hedrick, Jennifer Page, and Maya Nelson. Hedrick took second at the US Open at 57kg, Nelson took second at the Open at 59kg, and Page took second at 62kg.
68kg is one of the more interesting weight classes as reigning world and Olympic champion Tamyra Mensah-Stock has decided to retire from wrestling and join the WWE. Forrest Molinari will be sitting in Final X after winning the US Open. Emma Bruntil who placed 2nd at 65kg, and Alex Glaude who lost to Molinari in the finals will be the 2 top contenders to win the challenge tournament.
76kg is going to be interesting, the stats say that Adeline Gray should win but the US Open wasn’t the best as she was teched by Kennedy Blades in the finals. The semifinals match where Gray was down 8-0 at a point was won by cautions so this is big. Some of the wrestlers in the weight in addition to Gray are Kyle Welker, Yelena Makoyed, and Skylar Grote.
Freestyle
61kg is stacked beyond belief, with Seth Gross, Joe Colon, Nahshon Garrett, Austin Desanto, Nathan Tomasello, and Daton Fix in the weight class there are endless possibilities as to what could happen.
Desanto had a great showing at the open, we haven’t seen him face Fix in freestyle but in folkstyle it has been all Fix. In theory, Desanto is the favorite to win here solely based on his win over Gross, but it all depends on how the matchups fall.
92kg is another interesting one here, an interesting result that not many expected with Mike Macchiavello winning the Open teching Kollin Moore 12-2 in the finals.
Zahid Valencia announced that he will be moving up to 92kg as he lost to Aaron Brooks in the 86kg final to face David Taylor at Final X. This is the only wildcard here and otherwise it will most likely come down to Kollin Moore and Nate Jackson who will look to get their rematch with Macchiavello.
Gable Steveson has seemingly separated himself far from the rest of the pack at heavyweight domestically at least. Teching all of his opponents at the open and only conceding one point there is most likely nothing anyone can do to threaten him.
Nick Gwiazdowksi and Mason Parris as the two main names here as Hayden Zillmer has not entered. The last time these two wrestled it was a sweep by Gwiazdowski in the best of 3 to make the 2021 world team.
