maligned

Yeah, 86kg internationally is very deep with "good"--without much "great" other than the top 2 (DT and Yazdani). I'd pick Naifanov and the Russian representing Greece, Kurugliev, over Hidlay, with another 2 or 3 maybe coin flips. Overall, I think he'd be less than 50% to medal because of various landmines, but he'd be capable of beating anyone except probably Yazdani. I guess my real question is: Knowing Valencia probably gives us a better chance to medal, would USAW consider a wrestle-off between Hidlay and Valencia for the spot if it came to it, or is Valencia out of luck because of defaulting?

On the 5% chance that the sketchy reporting of Brooks' adderall situation is reliable AND the situation can't get resolved--is Trent Hidlay our guy at the Olympics at 86kg?!? DT just took one of the biggest D1 jobs in the middle of transfer season. There's no way he's coming back to compete. Valencia injury defaulted the Challenge tourney True 2nd match with Hidlay, and so Hidlay took the 3rd spot in the US National Team pecking order. Are we locked into Hidlay as next-in-line if Brooks' situation results in a suspension??

Wow. FYI to those that don't know: Valiev was '23 Russian champ and '22 runner-up. Beast.

Avoiding all political tension spots is way easier said than done. If you just say certain nations will be excluded from hosting, you're making yourself into a political watchdog instead of a sports commission. Armenia and Azerbaijan are great wrestling nations that are, by and large, peaceful with the rest of the world--but that have had political tensions between themselves for decades. Do you exclude them from hosting, knowing that each country's wrestling body won't let their wrestlers attend an event in the opposite nation "for safety concerns"? I'm not sure it's UWW's job to police that when the nation is a proven "peaceful" nation historically and is a war-free spot at the moment. (And when perceived risks are often happening in real-time--long after the host site was already determined.) Sadly, many legitimate contenders for Olympic spots from Armenia missed out on the Euro qualifier in Azerbaijan and have to try to qualify only in the World Qualifier (for the same reasons that Finesilver won't go to Turkey, in terms of his oversight deciding for him that it's not safe).

Thanks for the update and explanation! Although Karavus is probably more of a problem than Atli at this point, I'm glad all 4 seeds are now top guys. The death risk for us is needing 3 straight wins against top guys. Correct seeding sets Spencer up to be able both to afford a slip-up and to need only 2 elite wins.

Would love to see it, but it's hard to believe he'll stay at it consistently and/or last through the cycle. The crazy thing is that, this day and age, he has enough of a following that with the right camp and the right representation he could absolutely maintain enough endorsements to train full time, be in better shape, and be a genuine part of the discussion throughout the cycle.

All of this matches what I put in the original post from just what I found from entry lists and UWW rankings--but where did you get the rest of the 57kg info that has rankings beyond the Top 20 that determined the Cameroonian as the 4-seed and Spencer as 6th in line?

Since July '22 where he lost a tight one with Gilman in Tunisia, he's gone 0-1 at '22 Worlds and 0-1 at '23 Asians--that's it for UWW competition.

Yes, just not seeded because of lack of event points.

Entries have been published, and we can now know the prospective seeds from UWW's rankings for the 57kg and 65kg weights that Spencer Lee and Zain Retherford will endeavor to qualify. At 57, the potential seeds are among the clear favorites, so it's nice to see them separated. But 65 is a joke built on a broken ranking/seeding system, where none of the 4 seeds would be considered a favorite for one of the 3 available slots. Because only 4 are seeded and the rest of the bracket is random, these undeserving seeds leave open the possibility for what we've seen each of the last 2 cycles at 65kg at this event: Our guy in a loaded bracket half and someone undeserving qualifying from the other half. 57kg: 1) Aman, INDIA 2) Dingashvili, GEORGIA 3) Zandanbud, MONGOLIA 4) ?? (no other entrants ranked in UWW published Top 20) 65kg: 1) Sacultan, MOLDOVA 2) Finesilver, ISRAEL 3) Leutert, SWITZERLAND 4) Kudiev, TAJIKISTAN In Greco at 77kg, Kamal Bey should get a seed. Roberts and Coleman won't be seeded. Based on published seeding points/rankings: 1) #5 Gutu, MOLDOVA 2) #6 Lomadze, GEORGIA 3) #11 Kamal Bey, USA 4) #12 Levai, HUNGARY Kamal had a 2023 victory over Levai, 7-3, and a loss to Gutu, 3-3. Projected seeds for other freestyle weights: 74: 1) Chamizo, ITALY (automatic bc of the Azerbaijan euro qualifier debacle) 2) Salkazanov, SLOVAKIA 3) Demirtas, TURKEY 4) Kuramagomedov, HUNGARY 86: 1) Gocen, TURKEY 2) Sharipov, BAHRAIN 3) Ramazonov, BULGARIA 4) Greil, AUSTRIA 97: 1) Thiele, GERMANY 2) Baranowski, POLAND 3) Bajcajev, HUNGARY 4) Bataev, BULGARIA 125: 1) Ligeti, HUNGARY 2) Baran, POLAND 3) Lazarev, KYRGYZSTAN 4) Khotsianivskyi, UKRAINE

133 Madrigal, Illinois Upset in the 6/11 match by Norris of Purdue. Then has to face 3-seed Bouzakis in the consi's because of the Teske seeding ridiculousness. Two and out for Madrigal. That's Colaiocco, Leiphart, Boarman, Madrigal at 133 already. Loser of Big Ten 3-seed Bouzakis vs 4-seed Van Dee on the way too (again, because of the Teske issue). That's 5. Only 6 at-larges available.

174 Carter Starocci...medical forfeits out of all of his matches

133 Blake Boarman, Chattanooga (As the 3-seed, loses a 5-4 last-minute heartbreaker to App St's 2-seed Oakley, then is up 8-0 on Garder-Webb's 4-seed Lane in the consi semi's and gets put to his back and pinned. He beat both guys in the duals.)