Sept 9 World Championships Preview

Kyle Dake, the former four-time NCAA champion at Cornell, was nearly untouchable in last year’s World championships as the former Hodge Trophy winner outscored his foes, 37-0, and won a gold medal in his first World tournament.

The native of Ithaca, N.Y., is one of the three Americans in three different styles, who is featured in today’s WIN preview of the 2019 World Championships in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, Sept. 14-22.

Meanwhile, Pat Smith, a native of Minnesota, will compete in his second World Championships in Greco-Roman, while Kayla Miracle, a four-time WCWA champion, will compete in her first World tourney in women’s freestyle.

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Men’s Freestyle

79 K / 174 pounds

Kyle Dake

Competing Sept. 21-22

70 days after they were supposed to meet at Final X Rutgers, Kyle Dake (right) defeated Alex Dieringer in August to claim the 79-kilogram World berth. (Justin Hoch photo)

Bio:Age 28 (born Feb. 25, 1991); native and resident of Ithaca, N.Y.; Finger Lakes WC; 4-time champ at Cornell 2010-13, 2013 Hodge Trophy winner.

International Experience: defending World champion (going 3-0 in 2018); also competed in 2008 Junior Worlds in Greco (dnp).

2019 Final X:defeated former NCAA champ and Hodge Trophy winner Alex Dieringer in best-of-three matches, 3-2, 4-1, on Aug. 17 in Round Rock, Texas. The meeting, originally scheduled for Rutgers, was delayed because of a Dake injury.

Projected Top 4 Seeds by UWW:1. Kyle Dake (United States); 2. Jabrayil Hasanov (Azerbaijan), ’18 World silver; 3. Muhammet Kotanoglu (Turkey), ’19 European bronze; 4. Bahman Teymouri (Iran), ’19 Asian gold.

Greco-Roman

77 K / 169.5 pounds

Pat Smith

Pat Smith (back) lost his first match to Kamal Bey before stunning the 2018 World Team member for two straight wins at Final X Rutgers. (John Sachs photo)

Bio:Age 28 (born Dec. 19, 1990); native of Chaska, Minn.; resident of Minneapolis, Minn.; Minnesota Storm; wrestled at Minnesota.

International Experience:competed in one Senior Worlds; did not place in 2017 (1-1 record); also competed in 2014 University Worlds (silver).

2019 Final X:defeated 2018 World Team member Kamal Bey in best-of-three matches, 2-11, 2-1, 6-3, at Rutgers.

Projected Top 4 Seeds by UWW:1. Hyeonwoo Kim (Korea), ’18 World bronze; 2. Viktor Nemes (Serbia), ’17 World gold, ’18 World bronze; 3. Tamas Lorincz (Hungary), ’17 and ‘18 World silver; 4. Pavel Liakh (Belarus), competed in last three Worlds.

Women’s Freestyle

62 K / 136.5 pounds

Kayla Miracle

Competing Sept. 19-20

Kayla Miracle beat 2018 World bronze medalist Mallory Velte to claim her first World Team berth. (Tim Tushla photo)

Bio:Age 23 (born April 26, 1996); native of Culver, Ind.; resident of Iowa City, Iowa; Sunkist Kids WC/Hawkeye WC; 4-time WCWA champ at Campbellsville

International Experience: First Senior World tournament; also competed in seven age-group Worlds; two Cadet Worlds (8th in 2011 and silver medal in 2012), three Junior Worlds (bronze in 2014 and 8th in 2015, bronze in 2016) and U23 Worlds (fifth in 2017 in 2018)

2019 Final X:defeated 2018 World bronze medalist Mallory Velte (Titan Mercury WC) best-of-three matches, 12-2, 4-0, in Lincoln, Neb.

Projected Top 4 Seeds by UWW: 1. Taybe Yusein (Bulgaria), ’18 World gold; 2. Lais Nunes De Oliveria (Brazil), six-time World/Olympic team member; 3. Yukako Kawai (Japan), ’18 World silver; 4. Marianna Sastin (Hungary), ’13 World gold.

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.