June 10 is an important date for Team USA in men’s freestyle, women’s freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling. For that date is once again billed as Final X, the annual event which crowns a U.S. Senior World Team member in the 10 weights in each style that will compete in the 2023 UWW World Championships this September in Belgrade, Serbia.
With that in mind, WIN Magazine will provide a countdown for Final X and preview three of the 30 best-of-3 Final X matchups over the next 10 days. We also invite you to subscribe to WIN Magazine in time to receive the next issue of WIN, printed June 22, that will provide comprehensive coverage of this year’s Final X, which will be held at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
Click here or call 888-305-0606 to subscribe.
After today’s preview, look for other previews over the next nine days:
- June 1: IX (9) Days before Final X: 61k MFS, 53k WFS, 60k GR
- June 2: VIII (8) Days before Final X: 65k MFS, 55k WFS, 63k GR
- June 3: VII (7) Days before Final X: 70k MFS, 57k WFS, 67k GR
- June 4: VI (6) Days before Final X: 74k MFS, 59k WFS, 72k GR
- June 5: V (5) Days before Final X: 79k MFS, 62k WFS, 77k GR
- June 6: IV (4) Days before Final X: 86k MFS, 65k WFS, 82k GR
- June 7: III (3) Days before Final X: 92k MFS, 68k WFS, 87k GR
- June 8: II (2) Days before Final X: 97k MFS, 72k WFS, 97k GR
- June 9: I (1) Day before Final X: 125k MFS, 76k WFS, 130k GR
Today’s Final X Previews
Men’s Freestyle – 57k/125.5lbs: Thomas Gilman (Nittany Lion WC) vs. Zane Richards (Illinois RTC)
Zane Richards
Thomas Gilman
Gilman, 29, earned the Final X spot when the former Iowa Hawkeye All-American earned a silver medal in the 2022 World Championships. The native of Council Bluffs, Iowa, has represented the USA at this weight class four times over the past six years, highlighted by a gold medal in the 2021 Worlds and a bronze medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (held in 2021). Gilman also won a World silver medal in 2017.
Richards, a former two-time Illinois All-American, earned a Final X spot with a 3-3 criteria win over Nick Suriano at the U.S. Open. Richards, a 2011 Cadet World Team member during his high school days in Carbondale (Ill.) Community High School, has represented the USA in two World Cups, 2019 and last December in Coralville, Iowa.
One of the last times Gilman and Richards met was at the 2020 Olympic Trials (in 2021) when Gilman prevailed 11-0.
Women’s Freestyle – 50k/110lbs: Sarah Hildebrandt (New York AC/USOPTC) vs. Audrey Jimenez (Sunkist Kids)
Sarah Hildebrandt
Hildebrandt, a 29-year-old native of Granger, Ind., earned the Final X spot when she earned a bronze medal in the 2022 World Championships. In addition to also earning an Olympic bronze medal in 2021 in Tokyo, Hildebrandt has competed on five World teams and twice earned a silver medal in 2018 and 2021. She also competed in the 2016 and 2019 Worlds.
Audrey Jimenez
Jimenez, 17, reached Final X when the high school wrestler from Sunnyside High in Tucson, Ariz., rallied to beat former World medalist Alyssa Lampe, 10-10 on criteria in the U.S. Open. Jimenez is a two-time age-group medalist, claiming bronze at the 2021 Worlds and silver at the 2022 U20 Worlds.
This is their first meeting.
Greco-Roman – 55k/121lbs: Brady Koontz (Titan Mercury WC) vs. Dalton Duffield (Army WCAP)
Brady Koontz
This is a rematch of the 2023 U.S. Open in Las Vegas where Koontz, who now trains and wrestles at the University of Dubuque (Iowa), defeated Duffield by a 9-0 technical fall in late April. Duffield came back to win the World Team Trials in Colorado Springs in May to also qualify for the Final X.
Dalton Duffield
Koontz, a native of Plover, Wisc., who competed in the 2019 Final X (where he lost to Max Nowry) has represented Team USA in two age-group Worlds: the 2018 Juniors and the 2019 U23s.
This is the first Final X appearance by Duffield, who is a native of Moore, Okla., and wrestled two years for the University of Oklahoma before first training in Greco at the Northern Michigan RTC, then joined the U.S. Army’s World Class Athlete Program.
