USA Greco

Monday Roundup: NOR’s New Coach; POL Nat’l Results

By 5PM Staff

Posted on May 8, 2023

Photo: Polish Wrestling Federation

The Norwegian Wrestling Federation announced late last week that Marisuz Gicewicz has become their new National Team head coach.

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Gicewicz had been leading the Netherlands in recent years. Under his watch, both Marcel Sterkenburg (87 kg) and Tyrone Sterkenburg (97 kg) have developed into formidable Senior competitors, with the brothers first gaining widespread attention at the 2021 U20 World Championships. In that event, Marcel Sterkenburg won the 82 kg title while Tyrone finished with silver. This past October, Marcel went on to earn bronze at the U23 World Championships. The siblings have collected a handful of medals from other relevant international events, as well.

Gicewicz’s arrival signals a reduction in the workload for Danish head coach Szymon Kogut, who since the autumn had taken on coaching duties for both Denmark and Norway after the latter program cut ties with Fritz Aanes. However, not everything is changing. Denmark’s sports director Thor Hyllegaard will continue occupying the same scope of responsibilities for Norway, and Kogut will remain involved with NOR as a consultant.

Poland National Results

With Jozef Tracz having returned to the fold as National coach, Poland feels optimistic regarding their chances to qualify several weight categories for the Paris Olympics, particularly at 77, 87, and 97 kg. In order, that is Patryk Bednarz, two-time U23 World bronze Szymon Szymonowicz, and ’20 Olympic bronze Tadeusz Michalik. And all three came away with domestic titles last week in Racibórz.

For Szymonowicz, that is saying something considering the presence of Marcin Kulynycz, who earned bronze at the ’22 Belgrade Worlds and has been a fixture for Poland on the Senior circuit for nearly a decade. But in the final last week, Szymonowicz scored four when he submarined up from par terre bottom during a Kulynycz chest wrap attempt to finish backwards for four points in what eventually turned into an 8-2 decision. Bednarz was challenged as well by Maksym Zakharchuk and, though it seems POL prefers Bednarz, there might still be an opportunity for Zakharchuk to take the spot. Meanwhile, Michalik breezed through the tournament before going over Artsiom Shumski. Michalik, 32, had endured a series of injury setbacks over the past two years but is said by now to be fully recovered. It is likely that Poland will exercise caution regarding pre-World tournaments for Michalik, but 77 may require further testing.