Sept 10 World Championships Preview

Pat Downey was not expected to represent the United States at 86 kilograms, considering 2018 World champion David Taylor was expected to return to the Worlds this month. Instead, an injury forced the former NCAA champion from Penn State to miss Final X Rutgers in June when he was scheduled to face Downey. That means the verbally-confident Downey will get a chance to compete in his first World Championships.

Downey will be joined by 29 other wrestlers in three different styles, including Jon Stefanowicz in Greco-Roman and Forrest Molinari in women’s freestyle. Stefanowicz is among two U.S. Marines competing in the 2019 Worlds, held Sept. 14-22 in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. Molinari, who wrestled in the 2018 World Championships, is one of three women from the Hawkeye Wrestling Club at the 2019 Worlds.

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Men’s Freestyle

86 K /189 pounds

Pat Downey

Competing Sept. 21-22

Pat Downey (left) defeated Nick Heflin to qualify for Final X Rutgers where he was to meet 2018 World champ David Taylor. An injury to Taylor also sent Downey to the Worlds. (Ginger Robinson photo)

Bio:Age 27 (born Aug. 7, 1992); native of Baltimore, Md.; resident of Princeton, N.J.; Titan Mercury WC/NJRTC; NJCAA champ (Iowa Central), 2016 NCAA AA Iowa State.

International Experience: First Senior World tournament; also competed in one Junior World Championship (silver in 2012)

2019 Final X:won by injury default over 2018 World champ David Taylor at Rutgers

Projected Top 4 Seeds by UWW:Fatih Erdin (Turkey), ’18 World silver; Boris Makoev (Slovakia), ’17 World silver; Hassan Yazdani (Iran), ’18 World bronze, ’17 World gold, ’16 Olympic gold; Deepak Punia (India), 2019 Junior World gold

Greco-Roman

82 K / 180.5 pounds

Jon Stefanowicz

Competing Sept. 14-15

Jon Stefanowicz (right) beat Kendrick Sanders for a spot on the 2019 USA Greco-Roman World team. (Justin Hoch photo)

Bio:Age 27 (born Sept. 20, 1991); native of Fawn Grove, Pa.; resident of Camp LeJeune, N.C.; U.S. Marine Corps; attended Kennard-Dale High.

International Experience:First Senior World tournament

2019 Final X: defeated Kendrick Sanders (NYAC) in best-of-three matches, 8-5, 3-2, at Rutgers

Projected Top 4 Seeds by UWW:1. Emrah Kus (Turkey), ’18 World silver; 2. Viktar Sasunouski (Belarus), ’18 World bronze; 3. Saeid Abdvali (Iran), ’16 Olympic and ’17 World bronze; 4. Rajbek Bisultanov (Denmark), ’18 U23 World silver

Women’s Freestyle

65 K / 143 pounds

Forrest Molinari

Competing Sept. 18-19

Forrest Molinari (left) defeated Maya Nelson at Final X Rutgers for her second World Team berth. (Justin Hoch photo)

Bio:Age 23 (born Sept. 4, 1995); native of Walnut Creek, Calif.; resident of Iowa City, Iowa; Titan Mercury WC/Hawkeye WC; 2015 WCWA champ from King U.

International Experience:competed in one Senior Worlds; finished fifth in 2018 (2-2); also competed in 2015 Junior Worlds (dnp) and two U23 Worlds (dnp in 2017 and dnp in 2018).

2019 Final X:defeated Maya Nelson (Titan Mercury WC) best-of-three matches, 3-5, 12-2, 4-1, at Rutgers

Projected Top 4 Seeds by UWW: 1. Forrest Molinari (United States); 2. Aina Temirtassova (Kazakhstan), ’19 Yasar Dogu bronze; 3. Elis Manolova (Azerbaijan), ’18 U23 World silver; 4. Bolortuya Khurelkhuu (Mongolia), ’19 Asian silver.

Below are WIN’s daily previews of USA at the Worlds. Click on the date to read the previews of the wrestlers located on that date.