USA at the Worlds: Sept. 21-22

USA at the 2019 UWW World Championships

Competing Sept. 21-22

Men’s freestyle wrestling will take place on the eighth and ninth 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.

61 K /134 pounds

Tyler Graff

Tyler Graff waited five years between capturing a fourth All-American honor at Wisconsin and his first World Team berth by beating Joe Colon at Final X Lincoln. (Justin Hoch photo).

Bio:Age 30 (born June 3, 1989); native of Loveland, Colo.; resident of Princeton, N.J.; Titan Mercury WC/NJRTC; 4-time AA at Wisconsin (2010-14), 2014 NCAA runner-up.

International Experience: First Senior World Tournament; also competed in two Junior Worlds and dnp in 2007 and ‘08

2019 Final X: defeated 2018 World bronze medalist Joe Colon in best-of-three matches, 4-6, 9-2, 12-2, in Lincoln, Neb.

Projected Top 4 Seeds by UWW: 1.Yowlys Bonnie Rodriguez (Cuba), ’18 World gold; 2. Rahul Aware (India), ’19 Yasar Dogu gold; 3. Beka Lomtadze (Georgia), ’16 World silver; 4. Behnam Ehsanpoor (Iran), competed in last three Worlds.

79 K / 174 pounds

Kyle Dake

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.

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86 K / 189 pounds

Pat Downey

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;

97 K / 213.75 pounds

Kyle Snyder

Kyle Snyder beat Kyven Gadson at Final X Lincoln to qualify for his fifth straight World/Olympic Team. (Tim Tushla photo)

Bio: Age 23 (born Nov. 20, 1995); native of Woodbine, Md.; resident of Columbus, Ohio; Titan Mercury WC/Ohio RTC; spent senior year of high school at Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs; 3-time NCAA champ and 4-time AA at Ohio State (2015-18)

International Experience: three-time World/Olympic champ; competed in three Worlds; overall record 13-1 with three medals; gold in 2015 (5-0), gold in 2017 (4-0) and silver in 2018 (4-1); also won gold medal at 2016 Olympics; also competed in 2014 Junior Worlds (bronze) and 2013 Junior Worlds (gold).

2019 Final X:defeated former NCAA champ Kyven Gadson from Iowa State in best-of-three matches, 4-0 and 12-1, in Lincoln, Neb.

Projected Top 4 Seeds by UWW: 1. Kyle Snyder (United States), 2. Abdulrashid Sadulaev (Russia), 3-time World gold (’14, ’15, ’18) and ’16 Olympic gold; 3. Ulziisaikhan Batzul (Mongolia), Asian silver; 4. Abraham Conyedo Ruano (Italy), ’18 World bronze.