TIRANA, Albania – The brackets for the 2024 Senior World Championships have been released for all three styles. Team USA will have 12 athletes competing at Tirana’s Feti Borova Sports Hall, October 28-31.
The U.S. men’s freestyle team is headlined by a pair of all-time greats—Olympic champions David Taylor at 92 kg and Jordan Burroughs at 79 kg.
As fate would have it, the most anticipated match of the tournament will happen in round one. Taylor versus Russian great Abdulrashid Sadulaev, both of whom were Olympic champions in Tokyo, will start the tournament at 92 kg. Taylor won the Olympics and three Senior World titles down at 86 kg. Sadulaev was the 86 kg Olympic champion in 2016 before bumping up and taking the Olympic crown at 97 kg in 2021. He is also a five-time Senior World champion.
Burroughs, a six-time World champion and 2012 Olympic champion, sits in the round-of-32 awaiting the result between Zurab Kapraev of Romania and Zelimkhan Khadjiev of France. Khadjiev was an Olympian in 2016 and has some history wrestling Burroughs throughout the years. Burroughs defeated Khadjiev at the 2017 World Championships on his way to the gold medal.
2023 World champion Vito Arujau is back in the mix to defend his 61 kg crown. Arujau sits in the round-of-16 awaiting the winner of a preliminary match between 2024 Asian silver medalist Udit Udit of India and Christopher Merlo of Canada.
Two-time World medalist James Green rounds out the U.S. men’s freestyle lineup. Green gets 2024 Pan American silver medalist Peiman Biabani of Canada to begin his day at 70 kg.
Two-time World finalist and 2019 World champion Jacarra Winchester holds the spot at 59 kg for the U.S. women’s freestyle team. Her first-round matchup is three-time age-group World medalist Mansi Mansi of India. This is Winchester’s first World appearance at 59 kg.
2023 World finalist Macey Kilty is on a mission for her second Senior World medal. As the No. 1 seed, she will face Alexis Gomez of Mexico in her first match at 65 kg. Kilty picked up a silver medal earlier this week at the U23 World Championships, her sixth age-group World medal.
Also collecting a U23 World medal for the U.S. women a couple of days ago was Kylie Welker, who stormed to gold at 72 kg. Welker draws Aleah Nickel of Canada, who was defeated by American Brooklyn Hays, 10-2, in the first round of last week’s U23 World Championships down at 68 kg.
First-time World team member Areana Villaescusa completes the women’s roster for Team USA. Villaescusa is up against Zulfiya Yakhyarova of Kazakhstan at 55 kg.
The U.S. has sent a veteran Greco-Roman bunch to Albania, led by 2009 World bronze medalist Aliaksandr Kikiniou at 82 kg and two-time Olympian Ildar Hafizov at 63 kg. Kikiniou is up against 2021 U23 World bronze medalist Per Albin Olofsson of Sweden. Hafizov will face reigning European champion Nihat Mammadli of Azerbaijan.
Past U.S. World Team members Benji Peak and Brady Koontz are the other two Greco-Roman wrestlers in action. Peak faces a tall task in Tokyo Olympic champion and three-time World medalist Mohammadreza Geraei of Iran at 72 kg. Koontz opens against Sanjeev Sanjeev of India at 55 kg.
The Senior World Championships kick off on Monday and run through Thursday. Each style will compete over a two-day stretch, one after the other. The Greco-Roman competition will be held first, followed by women’s freestyle, then men’s freestyle. A complete schedule of events can be found below.
Updated brackets and match-by-match results are available on UWW Arena. A live broadcast of the event is available for the U.S. market at FloWrestling.com.
Stay tuned to TheMat.com and USA Wrestling’s social media platforms for complete coverage of the Senior World Championships.