Burroughs to Enter 2024 World Team Trials

Omaha just got even better! This morning, seven-time World/Olympic champion Jordan Burroughs made an Instagram post that read “Can’t let you guys have all the fun without me. See you in Omaha.” The post was made in conjunction with a handful of pictures of him training. 

Burroughs will presumably attempt to make his 12th World/Olympic team and his first since winning his seventh World/Olympic title in 2022. 

The World Team Trials slated for September 14th and 15th in Omaha, Nebraska, are for the non-Olympic weights for the upcoming World Championships. Wrestlers who did not participate in the Games are eligible at those non-Olympic weights. For men’s freestyle, they are: 61kg, 70kg, 79kg, and 92 kg. 

Burroughs would enter the 79kg bracket which is where he won his world titles in 2021 and 2022. 

Burroughs last wrestled at 79kgs in Final X 2023 - losing to Chance Marsteller in an epic three-match series. 

Recently, Burroughs was on the microphone doing commentary for the 2024 Olympic Games. While he sounded like a polished vet, Burroughs also didn’t come off like someone who was ready to retire and even dropped a couple of subtle (or not-so-subtle) hints that he wasn’t done competing. The 2024 Olympic Games marked the 12-year anniversary of Burroughs’ Olympic gold medal-winning performance in London. 

Another layer of this story is that the Trials are back in Omaha, not far from his long-time home in Lincoln at the University of Nebraska. The location probably didn’t factor into Burroughs’ decision, but likely is an added bonus. 

We last saw Burroughs in action at the 2024 Olympic Trials on the campus of Penn State University. At the Trials, Burroughs defeated Penn State star Mitchell Mesenbrink in a heated affair, before losing to former Nittany Lion great Jason Nolf. After each bout, Burroughs was met with boos from a large portion of the crowd, likely due to the many interactions between him and Mesenbrink throughout and after their match. 

For someone nearing the end of their remarkable career, that didn’t seem like the environment that Burroughs would choose for potentially his final matches on American soil. That led many to assume what was confirmed today - JB isn’t done yet and is ready for the Trials!