The conclusion of the European Olympic Games Qualifier means that the brackets for Tokyo are now more than half full.
Prior to the event in Budapest this past weekend, each of the six Olympic weight categories sported eight allocations. Two additional spots per weight have been added in the wake of Saturday’s results, which is really just another way of saying that the complete picture, as it were, is starting to come together.
Tokyo 2020ne Brackets
*As of 3/22
Below is a rendering of each bracket displaying qualified nations with the athlete responsible for achieving the objective noted in parentheses. The order in which nations are listed is alphabetical and not intended to suggest actual entries — or seeding (for that will be determined according to United World Wrestling’s “Ranking Series” point system).
60 kg
Cuba (Luis Orta Sanchez — gold, ’20 Pan-Am Qualifier)
Germany (Etienne Kinsinger — silver, ’20 European Qualifier)
Iran (Ali Reza Nejati — bronze, ’19 Worlds)
Japan (Kenichiro Fumita — gold, ’19 Worlds
Kazakhstan (Mirambek Ainagulov — bronze, ’19 Worlds)
Russia (Sergey Emelin — silver, ’19 Worlds)
Turkey (Kerem Kamal — gold, ’20 European Qualifier)
Ukraine (Lenur Temirov — 5th — ’19 Worlds)
United States of America (Ildar Hafizov — silver, ’20 Pan-Am Qualifier)
Uzbekistan (Elmurat Tasmuradov — 5th, ’19 Worlds)
67 kg
Colombia (Julian Horta Acevedo — gold, ’20 Pan-Am Qualifier)
Cuba (Ismael Borrero Molina — gold, ’19 Worlds)
Denmark (Fredrik Bjerrehuus — 5th, ’19 Worlds)
Egypt (Mohamed Elsayed — 5th, ’19 Worlds)
Georgia (Ramaz Zoidze — gold, ’20 European Qualifier)
Germany (Frank Staebler — bronze, ’19 Worlds)
Hungary (Balint Korpasi — silver, ’20 European Qualifier)
Russia (Artem Surkov — silver, ’19 Worlds)
Serbia (Mate Nemes — bronze, ’19 Worlds)
United States of America (Alex Sancho — silver, ’20 Pan-Am Qualifier)
77 kg
Armenia (Karapet Chalyan — 5th, ’19 Worlds)
Croatia (Bozo Starcevic — silver, ’20 European Qualifier)
Cuba (Yosvanys Pena Flores — gold, ’20 Pan-Am Qualifier)
Hungary (Tamas Lorincz — gold, ’19 Worlds)
Iran (Mohammadali Geraei — bronze, ’19 Worlds)
Kazakhstan (Ashkat Dilmukhamedov — 5th, ’19 Worlds)
Mexico (Jose Vargas Rueda — silver, ’20 Pan-Am Qualifier)
Russia (Alex Chekhrikin — gold, ’20 European Qualifier)
Sweden (Alex Kessidis — silver, ’19 Worlds)
Uzbekistan (Jalgasbay Berdimuratov — bronze, ’19 Worlds)
87 kg
Azerbaijan (Islam Abbasov, ’20 European Qualifier)
Belarus (Mikalai Stadub — 5th, ’19 Worlds)
Cuba (Daniel Gregorich Hechavarria — silver, ’20 Pan-Am Qualifier)
Georgia (Lasha Gobadze — silver, ’20 European Qualifier)
Germany (Denis Kudla — bronze, ’19 Worlds)
Hungary (Viktor Lorincz — bronze, ’19 Worlds)
Kyrgyzstan (Atabek Azisbekov — 5th, ’19 Worlds)
Ukraine (Zhan Belenyuk — gold, ’19 Worlds)
United States of America (Joe Rau — gold, ’20 Pan-Am Qualifier)
Uzbekistan (Rustam Assakalov — bronze, ’19 Worlds)
97 kg
Armenia (Artur Aleksanyan — silver, ’19 Worlds)
Bulgaria (Kiril Milov — silver, ’20 European Qualifier)
Cuba (Gabriel Rosillo — gold, ’20 Pan-Am Qualifier)
Finland (Arvi Savolainen — gold, ’20 European Qualifier)
Georgia (Giorgi Melia — 5th, ’19 Worlds)
Poland (Tadeusz Michalik — 5th, ’19 Worlds)
Russia (Musa Evloev — gold, ’19 Worlds)
Serbia (Mihail Kajaia — bronze, ’19 Worlds)
Turkey (Cenk Ildem — bronze, ’19 Worlds)
United States of America (G’Angelo Hancock — silver, ’20 Pan-Am Qualifier)
130 kg
Brazil (Eduard Soghomonyan — silver, ’20 Pan-Am Qualifier)
Chile (Yasmani Acosta Fernandez — gold, ’20 Pan-Am Qualifier)
Cuba (Oscar Pino Hinds — silver, ’19 Worlds)
Estonia (Heiki Nabi — bronze, ’19 Worlds)
Georgia (Iakobi Kajaia — bronze, ’19 Worlds)
Germany (Eduard Popp — 5th, ’19 Worlds)
Iran (Amir Ghasemimonjiezi — 5th, ’19 Worlds)
Lithuania (Mantas Knystautas — silver, ’20 European Qualifier)
Russia (Sergey Semenov — gold, ’20 European Qualifier)
Turkey (Riza Kayaalp — gold, ’19 Worlds)
European Olympic Qualifier Notes:
- Only two of the six finals on Sunday were contested. Kerem Kamal (TUR) decisioned Etienne Kinsinger (GER) 5-1 to take the crown at 60 kilograms. ’18 World Champion/’16 Rio bronze Sergey Semenov (130 kg, RUS) defeated Mantas Knystautas (LTU) by the same score.
- The Tokyo-clinching performances from Kinsinger and Arvi Savolainen carried a little extra significance for their respective nations. Kinsinger guaranteed Germany’s first 60-kilogram Olympian since Athens ’04 (Jurij Kohl). As for Finland, the last time they had an Olympian at 97 kilos was Mexico City ’68 (Cal Malmberg); within that general weight range, Harri Koskela repped Finland at 90 kilograms in both Seoul ’88 and Barcelona ’92.
REMAINING TOKYO OLYMPIC GAMES QUALIFIERS
(All dates for Greco-Roman only)
African & Oceania Olympic Games Qualifier
April 2 — El Jalda, MAR
Asian Olympic Games Qualifier
April 9 — Almaty, KAZ
World Olympic Games Qualifier
May 8-9 — Sofia, BUL
What Happened with Norway?
’14 World/’16 Olympic bronze Stig-Andre Berge (60 kg), Per Anders Kure (77 kg) and ’20 European Championships gold Morten Thoresen (67 kg) all competed on Saturday and fell in their opening-round match-ups. But Norway was supposed to be represented by five athletes, not three. The problem? Positive tests.
Top contender Felix Baldauf (97 kg) and heavyweight Oskar Marvik both tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19, along with head coach Fritz Aanes, two days prior to the start of the tournament. The Norwegian duo’s next and last shot to secure their respective weight categories for Tokyo will come on May 8 in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Here We Go
The Last Chance US Olympic Trials Qualifier for Greco-Roman begins at 10:00am CT on Friday (March 26, streaming live on FLO) with all six weight categories running until 1:30pm, which within that time-frame will include the semifinal round. However — the tournament is going to involve, potentially, a “true second” designation. Exact language from USA Wrestling pertaining to that procedure is as follows:
“A true second will be contested if the 2nd and 3rd place finishers from the weight category at this event did NOT wrestle each other in the tournament. They will wrestle one match at the end of the tournament and the winner of this match (that is, the 2nd place finisher) will qualify” for the Trials.
As of press time, 88 wrestlers are registered for Greco but entries will be accepted until Thursday, March 25 with a 7:00pm (CT) deadline.
Thus far, plenty of established names most observers have long expected to participate are on the list, including a healthy number of competitors featured in 5PM’s latest rankings.
60 kg
Travis Rice (NYAC/IRTC, 5PM #9) — ’18 U23 World Team, ’15 Junior World Team
Randon Miranda (NYAC/CYC, 5PM #10) — 2X Junior World Team, ’18 U23 World Team
Brady Koontz (TMWC/Ohio RTC, 5PM #12) — ’19 U23 World Team, ’18 Junior World Team, ’19 Final X runner-up
Alex Thomsen (Nebraska Wrestling TC, 5PM #14) — ’20 US National Champion
67 kg
Hayden Tuma (UA, 5PM #5) — ’16 US National Champion, ’17 World Team Trials runner-up, 3X US National Team
Benji Peak (Sunkist/NTS, 5PM #10) — ’20 National Champion
Lenny Merkin (NYAC, 5PM #12) — ’19 U23 World Team
Jessy Williams (NYAC/Spartan RTC, 5PM #13) — ’18 US Open runner-up
Morgan Flaharty (NYAC, 5PM #15)
77 kg
Kendrick Sanders (NYAC/NTS, 5PM #5) — 3X US National Champion
Alec Ortiz (Minnesota Storm, 5PM #9) — 3rd, ’20 US Nationals
Jesse Porter (NYAC, 5PM #11) — ‘3X U23 World Team, ’16 US National runner-up
87 kg
Alan Vera (NYAC, 5PM #1) — ’20 US National Champion
97 kg
Braxton Amos (Wisconsin RTC, 5PM #9) — 3rd, ’20 US Nationals
130 kg
Tanner Farmer (NYAC/IRTC, 5PM #10) — 4th, ’20 US Nationals
Tommy Helton (Southern Illinois TC, 5PM #12)
The list above is sure to change as there are several athletes who have yet to complete their registrations. This page will be updated throughout the week in order to keep up with these presumed additions.
Our Coverage
- Words from a few athletes.
- Post-session results.
- Weekend overviewing recap and perspectives on FLOWrestling.
Listen to “5PM47: Nate Engel and Xavier Johnson” on Spreaker.
Listen to “5PM46: Taylor LaMont and Jessy Williams” on Spreaker.
Listen to “5PM45: Chatting with Dennis Hall and Max Nowry” on Spreaker.
