USA at the Worlds: Sept. 20-21

USA at the 2019 UWW World Championships

Competing Sept. 20-21

Men’s freestyle wrestling will take place on the seventh and eighth days of the 2019 UWW World Championships, which will be held Sept. 14-22 in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. The following is a closer look at three Americans, who hope to compete over two days.

Each weight will take place on two days; matches through semifinals on day 1, beginning at 1 a.m. EDT, and placement matches on day 2, repechage bouts beginning at 1 a.m. EDT and placement matches at 10 a.m. EDT.  All matches can be found at Trackwrestling.com.

70 K / 154 pounds

James Green

James Green (right) avenged a U.S. Open loss to Ryan Deakin at Final X Lincoln. (Tim Tushla photo)

Bio:Age 26 (born Dec. 19, 1992); native of Willingboro, N.J.; resident of Lincoln, Neb.; Titan Mercury WC/Nebraska RTC; 4-time AA at Nebraska (2012-15).

International Experience: Two-time medalist competed in four Senior Worlds; overall record 10-4; bronze in 2015 (4-1); 7th in 2016 (2-1); silver in 2017 (3-1); did not place in 2018 (1-1); 2014 University Worlds (silver), 2013 World University Games (dnp)

2019 Final X:defeated Ryan Deakin (Northwestern AA) in best-of-three matches, 10-0, 4-3, in Lincoln, Neb.

Projected Top 4 Seeds by UWW: 1. Adam Batirov (Bahrain), ’18 World silver; 2. Nurkozha Kaipanov (Kazakhstan), ’19 Asian gold; 3. Yones Emamichoghaei (Iran), Asian bronze; 4. Devid Safaryan (Armenia), ’13 World gold.

74 K /163 pounds

Jordan Burroughs

Jordan Burroughs (right) earned a spot on his seventh all-time World Team by beating Isaiah Martinez for a second straight year at Final X Lincoln. (Tim Tushla photo)

Bio:Age 31 (born July 8, 1988); native of Sicklerville, N.J.; resident of Lincoln, Neb.; Sunkist Kids WC/Nebraska RTC; 2-time champ, 3-time AA at Nebraska (2007-11), 2011 Hodge Trophy winner.

International Experience: Will look to tie John Smith’s record of six World/Olympic championships; has competed in every Worlds/Olympics at 74k since 2011; overall Worlds record 29-2 with six medals; gold in 2011 (5-0), 2013 (5-0); 2015 (6-0); 2017 (6-0); bronze in 2014 (4-1) and 2018 (4-1); overall Olympics record 5-2 with one medal; gold in 2012 (4-0) and dnp in ’16.

2019 Final X: defeated former two-time NCAA champ from Illinois, Isaiah Martinez, in best-of-three matches, 5-4, 5-5, 7-1, in Lincoln, Neb., for second straight year.

Projected Top 4 Seeds by UWW:1. Frank Chamizo (Italy), ’17 World gold; 2. Jordan Burroughs, United States; 3. Zaurbek Sidakov (Russia), ’18 World gold; 4. Avtandil Kentchadze (Georgia), ’18 World silver.

92 K / 202 pounds

J’den Cox

Defending World champion J’den Cox (top) won two bouts over 2019 Hodge Trophy winner Bo Nickal to earn a spot on the 2019 World team. (Justin Hoch photo)

Bio:Age 24 (born March 3, 1995); native of Columbia, Mo.; resident of Colorado Springs, Colo.; Titan Mercury WC/OTC; 3-time NCAA champ and 4-time AA at Missouri (2013-16).

International Experience: defending World champ, also competed in 2017 Worlds (bronze, (4-1 record); also competed in 2016 Olympics (bronze medal, 3-1 record).

2019 Final X:defeated three-time NCAA champ and ’19 Hodge Trophy winner Bo Nickal of Penn State in best-of-three matches, 4-2 and 5-0, at Rutgers.

Projected Top 4 Seeds by UWW:1. J’den Cox (United States); 2. Alireza Karimimachiani (Iran), ’18 World bronze; 3. Ivan Yankouski (Belarus), ’18 World silver; 4. Irakli Mtsituri (Georgia), ’18 World fifth place; also Alikhan Zhabrailov (Russia), ’19 Russian champ.

xxx

xxxx

125 K / 275 pounds

Nick Gwiazdowski

Nick Gwiazdowski captured his second straight World bronze medal last year in Hungary. (Justin Hoch photo)

Bio:Age 26 (born Dec. 30, 1992); native of Duanesburg, N.Y.; resident of Raleigh, N.C.; Titan Mercury WC/Wolfpack WC; 2-time NCAA champ at NC State (2014-15), 4-time AA (2^ndin 2016, 8^thin 2013 at Binghamton).

International Experience: two-time World bronze medalist in 2017 (3-1) and ’18 (3-1)

2019 Final X: defeated Minnesota All-American Gable Steveson in best-of-three matches, 4-4 and 3-3, at Rutgers.

Projected Top 4 Seeds by UWW:1. Geno Petriashvili (Georgia), ’17 and ’18 World gold, ’16 Olympic bronze; 2. Zhiwei Deng (China), ’18 World silver; 3. Taha Akgul (Turkey), ’17 World silver, ’16 Olympic gold, ’15 World gold; 4. Nick Gwiazdowski (USA).