Jon_Kozak

Also, at 65 kg, Kyrgyzstan's Bilol Sharip Uulu is good - beat Ibragimov (14-4) and Japan's Kaisei Tanabe (3-1) at the Ranking Series tournament in Albania in February.

Good stuff as always...I'd add Nika Zangaladze and Merey Bazarbayev to medal threats at 61 kg. I'm also curious to see Umarov at 70 kg - he won a pretty deep U23 Rus Nats. I'm really interested to see Russia at this tournament, considering their relatively down performance at all levels of worlds this year.

There has been a rotation of commentators - me, Christian, and Spey have been on Mats A and D for the first session and then on Mat C for the semis/medal rounds. A combination of Shawn Kenney, George Ramm, Eric Olanowski, Bryan Hazard, and Erica Wiebe covered B/C for the first session and B for the semis/medal rounds.

Two-time world champ Kristie Marano/Davis' story is wild. She essentially hid her pregnancy when she was like 18 or 19 (1998) and wrestled when she was 9 months pregnant. Pretty sure Kristie won world silver that year and the next. Then went on to win worlds in 2000. Kayla Marano (the baby she had in 1998) went on to have a pretty solid wrestling career. Cadet world bronze in 2015 and U23 World 5th in 2021. https://www.chicagotribune.com/2004/05/23/oh-baby-wrestlers-true-tale-remarkable/

Aman - 26,000 + 3,000 (Olympics) + 5,200 (3rd place at Mongolian Open) = 34,200 Abdullaev - 26,000 +3,000 (Olympics) + 4,000 + 3,000 (8th Place at Asians) = 36,000 You can see how UWW applies Rankings Points by competition here: https://cdn.uww.org/2024-01/ranking_series_rules.pdf

Their #2's at the weight you mentioned are good, but look at 70, 79, 86, 92, 97, and 125. Even in the weights they have a medalist (70, 86, and 97), the next guy up is miles behind. Even if you look at my international rankings right now, USA has 21 guys ranked in the top 20, Japan has only 9. Their depth is pretty far behind the USA's, and that was my entire point.

Yes but individual weight class rankings are also included in big boards. I think Bray's rationale is-if high school grads are still competing against other high schoolers in tournaments like Fargo and U20 WTT, they should be ranked. Having the grads ranked also helps give a better perspective on their matchups with undergrads.

Fargo was less than 3 weeks ago and high school grads can wrestle there. I believe they'll be removed in the next ranking. I don't want to speak for Bray (who does the high school rankings) but I think it's a better projection of where a kid is actually at heading into college than if they were removed 3 months ago. Think Mesenbrink after U20s his senior year. He made a huge jump that summer before his first year of college.

Great breakdown - It's worth noting that Iran is reportedly not going due to recent events. Also, I'd expect Russia's entries to change based on what happens at Russian Nationals this weekend. Federations have to submit the number of entries by a certain day and the guys submitted here are likely place holders. Also, 79 is pretty loaded with Gamkrelidze (world silver), Yergesh (beat Starocci at U23 worlds), Eryilmaz (world bronze), and Gulaev (world bronze). This will be a great test for Levi.

I don't feel confident picking anyone at 57 - but the safe picks are Pavlov, Chebodaev, and Mutaliev. Magomed-Salyakh Ozdamirov is another guy to watch at 57 - he won U20 Russian Nationals and looks ready to challenge guys at the senior level.

I'd be shocked if they gave one to Mongush. They usually only give wrestle-offs to the exceptional - Sidakov, Sadulaev, Uguev. Pavlov did beat Mongush at last year's Russian Nationals and the two had a close match at the Yarygin this year (it was 7-5). But I agree that Mongush has been better internationally.

Nachyn Mongush and Zaurbek Sidadkov won't be wrestling at Russian Nationals. As already mentioned, Sidakov is hoping for a special wrestle-off against whoever wins Russian Nationals, but he doesn't know if he'll get one yet. Brackets will be out in the next day or so - I'll have an article up with them when they're released and will be tracking all of the results over the next few days.

We're hoping to find out who people think the best wrestlers at each weight are since 2001.

No criteria other than who you think is the best 133-pounder of the last 25 years. We thought that's what would make it more engaging because everyone will have their own criteria on how they define who the best is.

I think Woods is our best shot at a medal this year so I'm glad he made Final X. I don't think he beats Kiyooka, Mamedov, or Amouzad but I feel pretty good about him against anyone else in the world. Prior to this year, Woods hadn't wrestled freestyle since 2019. So, it's pretty incredible he made Final X this year. It also might explain some of his problems closing out matches.