The 2023 World Championships having drawn to a close on Sunday means only one thing: it is now officially the Olympic Year.
15 national federations from around the sport had representatives who qualified at least one weight category for the next year’s Paris Olympics. Young Belarusian Abubakar Khaslakhanau (97 kg) was the lone competitor wearing the “Individual Neutral Athlete” designation to have secured an Olympic quota, an impressive feat considering that the Belgrade World tournament was his first on the Senior level. Khaslakhanau was a Cadet World titlist in ’21 before winning U20 gold this past summer.
Athletes will have two more opportunities to qualify weight classes for the Olympics — their respective continental avenues or the World OG tournament scheduled for May in Istanbul.
Olympic Qualification – Greco-Roman
*As of 9/25/23
Iran currently leads the way after pushing four weight classes across the finish line in Belgrade. The middle eastern powerhouse had one champion from an Olympic weight (Amin Mirzazadeh, 130 kg), two bronze (Mohammadreza Geraei and Mohammadhadi Saravi at 67 and 97, respectively), and one who had to fight it out for “true fifth”, Mehdi Mohsen Nejad (60 kg). Both Armenia and Cuba already have three weight categories locked down, five nations have two, and seven countries were able to manage getting one weight qualified.
Iran (IRI) — 4
Armenia (ARM) — 3
Cuba (CUB) — 3
Azerbaijan (AZE) — 2
China (CHN) — 2
Japan (JPN) — 2
Kyrgyzstan (KGZ) — 2
Uzbekistan (UZB) — 2
Bulgaria (BUL) — 1
Czech Republic (CZE) — 1
Egypt (EGY) — 1
Hungary (HUN) — 1
Kazakhstan (KAZ) — 1
Serbia (SRB) — 1
Turkey (TUR) — 1
Weights Qualified by Country
60 kg
China (CHN)
Iran (IRI)
Japan (JPN)
Kyrgyzstan (KGZ)
Uzbekistan (UZB)
67 kg
Armenia (ARM)
Azerbaijan (AZE)
Cuba (CUB)
Iran (IRI)
Serbia (SRB)
77 kg
Armenia (ARM)
Azerbaijan (AZE)
Japan (JPN)
Kyrgyzstan (KGZ)
Uzbekistan (UZB)
87 kg
Bulgaria (BUL)
Hungary (HUN)
Kazakhstan (KAZ)
Turkey (TUR)
Ukraine (UKR)
97 kg
Armenia (ARM)
Cuba (CUB)
Czechia (CZE)
Iran (IRI)
Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN)
130 kg
China (CHN)
Cuba (CUB)
Egypt (EGY)
Iran (IRI)
Turkey (TUR)
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
2023 World Championships
September 21-24 — Belgrade, SRB
Olympic Weight Categories
60 kg
GOLD: Zholaman Sharshenbekov (KGZ)
SILVER: Kenichiro Fumita (JPN)
BRONZE: Liguo Cao (CHN)
BRONZE: Islomjon Bakhramov (UZB)
FINAL OLYMPIC QUALIFYING SPOT: Mehdi Mohsen Nejad (IRI)
67 kg
GOLD: Luis Orta Sanchez (CUB)
SILVER: Hasrat Jafarov (AZE)
BRONZE: Mate Nemes (SRB)
BRONZE: Mohammadreza Geraei (IRI)
FINAL OLYMPIC QUALIFYING SPOT: Slavik Galstyan (ARM)
77 kg
GOLD: Azkhol Makhmudov (KGZ)
SILVER: Sanan Suleymanov (AZE)
BRONZE: Malkhas Amoyan (ARM)
BRONZE: Nao Kusaka (JPN)
FINAL OLYMPIC QUALIFYING SPOT: Aram Vardanyan (UZB)
87 kg
GOLD: Ali Cengiz (TUR)
SILVER: David Lonsonczi (HUN)
BRONZE: Semen Novikov (BUL)
BRONZE: Zhan Belenyuk (UKR)
FINAL OLYMPIC QUALIFYING SPOT: Nursultan Tursynov (KAZ)
97 kg
GOLD: Gabriel Rosillo Kindelan (CUB)
SILVER: Artur Aleksanyan (ARM)
BRONZE: Mohammadhadi Saravi (IRI)
BRONZE: Artur Omarov (CZE)
FINAL OLYMPIC QUALIFYING SPOT: Abubakar Khaslakhanau (AIN)
130 kg
GOLD: Amin Mirzazadeh (IRI)
SILVER: Riza Kayaalp (TUR)
BRONZE: Oscar Pino Hinds (CUB)
BRONZE: Abdellatif Mohamed (EGY)
FINAL OLYMPIC QUALIFYING SPOT: Lingzhe Meng (CHN)
Non-Olympic Weight Categories
55 kg
GOLD: Eldaniz Azizli (AZE)
SILVER: Nugzari Tsurtsumia (GEO)
BRONZE: Jasurbek Ortikboev (UZB)
BRONZE: Poya Dad Marz (IRI)
63 kg
GOLD: Leri Abuladze (GEO)
SILVER: Murad Mammadov (AZE)
BRONZE: Enes Basar (TUR)
BRONZE: Georgi Tibilov (SRB)
72 kg
GOLD: Ibrahim Ghanem (FRA)
SILVER: Robert Fritsch (HUN)
BRONZE: Selcuk Can (TUR)
BRONZE: Ali Arsalan (SRB)
82 kg
GOLD: Rafiq Huseynov (AZE)
SILVER: Alireza Mohmadipiani (IRI)
BRONZE: Yaroslav Filchakov (UKR)
BRONZE: Aues Gonibov (AIN)
FINAL TEAM STANDINGS
1. Azerbaijan (AZE) — 129 pts
2. Iran (IRI) — 102 pts
3. Turkey (TUR) — 93 pts
4. Cuba (CUB) — 73 pts
5. Kyrgyzstan (KGZ) — 69 pts
6. Armenia (ARM) — 65 pts
7. Georgia (GEO) — 59 pts
8. Hungary (HUN) — 52 pts
8. Uzbekistan (UZB) — 52 pts
10. Serbia (SRB) — 49 pts
23. United States of America (USA) — 14 pts
32. Norway — 2 pts
33. Denmark — N/A
Special NMU Dual This Week
Northern Michigan University, the National Training Site for Greco-Roman, will host an intrasquad dual this coming Friday at 3:00pm (ET). All of the action can be viewed live on the program’s Instagram account.
Among the participants is Payton Jacobson, who is currently gearing up for the U23 World Championships in Albania. Also featured on the card are Riley Briggs, Brody Olson, Charlie Dill, Max Schierl, Aaron Dobbs, Diego Romero, and Nick Leonetti, as well as a collection of other top prospects from the legacy Greco-Roman institution. The dual is not utilizing set weight categories. Pairings have indeed been determined according to weight but with an allowable distance. The dual is intended to serve as a kick-off to the new season for NMU, which began last month as wrestlers arrived on campus for the fall semester. Northern Michigan’s National Training Site is presided over by head coach Andrew T. Bisek and assistant coach Parker Betts.
Match 1: Patrick Curran vs. Riley Briggs
Match 2: Kaden Ercanbrack vs. Diego Romero
Match 3: Charlie Dill vs. Max Schierl
Match 4: Tim Eubanks vs. Daniel Eubanks
Match 5: Garren Leffel vs. Tony McMahon
Match 6: Brody Olson vs. Charlie Mckune
Match 7: Eli Marshall vs. Cam Groncki
Match 8: Casey Recrosio vs. Payton Jacobson
Match 9: Devin Montano vs. Clay Johnston
Match 10: Timmy Johnson-Thompson vs. Aaron Dobbs
Match 11: Nick Leonetti vs. Maddox Khalimsky
Match 12: Cole Pence vs. DM Hallett
Listen to “5PM54: WCAP’s Ryan Epps and a Final X Greco-Roman Preview” on Spreaker.
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