Gwiazdowski is waiting and ready for Coon for their Final X showdown at Lehigh Saturday night
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by Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling
VIDEOS: Final X interviews and press conferences
The Final X at Lehigh showdown at 125 kg in men’s freestyle has suddenly become a battle of World Team members.
Friday afternoon in Tulsa, Okla., Adam Coon upset Robby Smith, who had been on five straight U.S. World and Olympic Teams, to claim his first Senior U.S. Greco-Roman World Team berth at 130 kg. Coon went straight to the airport to fly east for Final X, where he will battle for a spot on the U.S. Freestyle World Team at Lehigh on Saturday night. Obviously, Coon was not in Pennsylvania in time for the pre-event press conference.
Waiting for Coon in Bethlehem, Pa., is 2017 World bronze medalist Nick Gwiazdowski. Although he is well aware of Coon’s heroics on Friday, the Gwizz really doesn’t have much to say about it. He will be ready for Coon, regardless.
“I don’t give much thought to it. That is what he and his team decided to do. He has kind of always done it. It doesn’t affect anything I am doing in my preparation and what I come up with tomorrow night,” said Gwiazdowski after the Final X press conference.
Gwiazdowski has wrestled Coon before, both in college and in freestyle. Gwiazdowski believes their last freestyle match was at the 2015 Freestyle World Team Trials, where Nick won by 10 points. To him, Coon is what stands in his way of making a second World Team, and getting another chance at the Senior World gold medal.
“It has been a great training cycle coming up to this. We have had some guys come into town, some bigger bodies, and some smaller guys that I have worked with in the past, in terms of their intensity. I have wrestled with some more experienced guys who have wrestled around the world and are big and strong. It is a good mix of guys and good mix of bodies we have wrestled with. We made adjustments as we went along. We have wrestled each other too, so we have a good idea about what to expect. It has been three years, though,” said Gwiazdowski.
When asked, Gwiazdowski listed some of workout partners who have helped him get prepared for the showdown with Coon. At Penn State, he worked out with Eric Thompson and Olympic champion Jake Varner. He worked with smaller heavyweight Jacob Kasper, who has a Greco-Roman background. Also, Mike Hughes from Hofstra, one of the biggest big men on the college scene, as well as Cerron Francisco, a young heavyweight on the rise.
In his first year at the World Championships in Paris last summer, Gwiazdowski came home with a bronze medal. He was not yet well known around the world, but he felt he was ready for the challenge.
“I have made consistent improvement throughout my career. Just going out there, wrestling hard, with the improvements I have made, and with my effort, it came out well,” he said.
There were some lessons from Paris that he has put into his training this season.
“It has been nine months since then. We spent a lot of time working, including on my confidence, my abilities and my focus against higher level opponents. But also some things we were short on, when we were getting scored upon, and getting stopped in scoring positions as well as par terre offense. And our intentions to score when we are taking attacks. Our intention is to score, not just to get to the leg or stop the wrestling for a minute. Those things have been in my head as we have been improving for the last couple of months. We have put them in action, came up short and improved. It has been a process of working on it, testing it in competition, improving on it until it is perfect,” he said.
Gwizz has some new things ready, not just for Coon, but for the world’s top heavyweights who have learned more about him as his international career has blossomed.
“Worlds were in August. We wrestled the Clubs Cup. We wrestled the Yarygin Tournament and we wrestled the World Cup. My best was at the World Cup, but we came up a little short in one of the matches. We have been working on some things. In December, they weren’t necessarily ready. In January, they weren’t necessarily ready for world-class guys. With the timing of this, I think things are coming together good,” he said.
When asked about his tactics and strategy for Coon, Gwiazdowski expects to be ready for his unique style and abilities.
“It is like that with everybody. I am sure there are some things he wants to stay away from with me. There are some things we have been focusing on. There are some positions where we need to capitalize, where we really need to put points on the board in those positions, and some things we need to stay away from. We have those things, and I have been hitting on them. Come tomorrow night, if we put together 12 minutes of wrestling, we should be good,” said Gwiazdowski.
Gwiazdowski likes the Final X concept, but being placed in the third and final event, he is also anxious to get this competition done and move to the next level.
“I think it is something the sport needs, a little different layout than it has been in the past. But also, it has been three weeks since I saw the first guys make the team. I feel like it is a little bit drawn out, in my honest opinion. You do need to see the wrestling more often and we have the quality of stars, I think. It is the first year, and they will see what worked and didn’t work, what sold and didn’t sell and you adjust it,” he said.
As an East Coast guy, Gwizz will be competing in front of some of those who have supported his Olympic dream.
“I have some people from North Carolina, some friends who have made the drive. I also have some family coming down tomorrow from New York. There should be a good amount of people here rooting for me. I am looking forward to it,” he said.
All of the eyes of the wrestling world may be on Adam Coon on Saturday, especially because of what he did on Friday. Nick Gwiazdowski has kept his focus on just one thing, and aims to show just how much he has improved since winning that World medal in Paris last summer.
The Final X at Lehigh showdown at 125 kg in men’s freestyle has suddenly become a battle of World Team members.
Friday afternoon in Tulsa, Okla., Adam Coon upset Robby Smith, who had been on five straight U.S. World and Olympic Teams, to claim his first Senior U.S. Greco-Roman World Team berth at 130 kg. Coon went straight to the airport to fly east for Final X, where he will battle for a spot on the U.S. Freestyle World Team at Lehigh on Saturday night. Obviously, Coon was not in Pennsylvania in time for the pre-event press conference.
Waiting for Coon in Bethlehem, Pa., is 2017 World bronze medalist Nick Gwiazdowski. Although he is well aware of Coon’s heroics on Friday, the Gwizz really doesn’t have much to say about it. He will be ready for Coon, regardless.
“I don’t give much thought to it. That is what he and his team decided to do. He has kind of always done it. It doesn’t affect anything I am doing in my preparation and what I come up with tomorrow night,” said Gwiazdowski after the Final X press conference.
Gwiazdowski has wrestled Coon before, both in college and in freestyle. Gwiazdowski believes their last freestyle match was at the 2015 Freestyle World Team Trials, where Nick won by 10 points. To him, Coon is what stands in his way of making a second World Team, and getting another chance at the Senior World gold medal.
“It has been a great training cycle coming up to this. We have had some guys come into town, some bigger bodies, and some smaller guys that I have worked with in the past, in terms of their intensity. I have wrestled with some more experienced guys who have wrestled around the world and are big and strong. It is a good mix of guys and good mix of bodies we have wrestled with. We made adjustments as we went along. We have wrestled each other too, so we have a good idea about what to expect. It has been three years, though,” said Gwiazdowski.
When asked, Gwiazdowski listed some of workout partners who have helped him get prepared for the showdown with Coon. At Penn State, he worked out with Eric Thompson and Olympic champion Jake Varner. He worked with smaller heavyweight Jacob Kasper, who has a Greco-Roman background. Also, Mike Hughes from Hofstra, one of the biggest big men on the college scene, as well as Cerron Francisco, a young heavyweight on the rise.
In his first year at the World Championships in Paris last summer, Gwiazdowski came home with a bronze medal. He was not yet well known around the world, but he felt he was ready for the challenge.
“I have made consistent improvement throughout my career. Just going out there, wrestling hard, with the improvements I have made, and with my effort, it came out well,” he said.
There were some lessons from Paris that he has put into his training this season.
“It has been nine months since then. We spent a lot of time working, including on my confidence, my abilities and my focus against higher level opponents. But also some things we were short on, when we were getting scored upon, and getting stopped in scoring positions as well as par terre offense. And our intentions to score when we are taking attacks. Our intention is to score, not just to get to the leg or stop the wrestling for a minute. Those things have been in my head as we have been improving for the last couple of months. We have put them in action, came up short and improved. It has been a process of working on it, testing it in competition, improving on it until it is perfect,” he said.
Gwizz has some new things ready, not just for Coon, but for the world’s top heavyweights who have learned more about him as his international career has blossomed.
“Worlds were in August. We wrestled the Clubs Cup. We wrestled the Yarygin Tournament and we wrestled the World Cup. My best was at the World Cup, but we came up a little short in one of the matches. We have been working on some things. In December, they weren’t necessarily ready. In January, they weren’t necessarily ready for world-class guys. With the timing of this, I think things are coming together good,” he said.
When asked about his tactics and strategy for Coon, Gwiazdowski expects to be ready for his unique style and abilities.
“It is like that with everybody. I am sure there are some things he wants to stay away from with me. There are some things we have been focusing on. There are some positions where we need to capitalize, where we really need to put points on the board in those positions, and some things we need to stay away from. We have those things, and I have been hitting on them. Come tomorrow night, if we put together 12 minutes of wrestling, we should be good,” said Gwiazdowski.
Gwiazdowski likes the Final X concept, but being placed in the third and final event, he is also anxious to get this competition done and move to the next level.
“I think it is something the sport needs, a little different layout than it has been in the past. But also, it has been three weeks since I saw the first guys make the team. I feel like it is a little bit drawn out, in my honest opinion. You do need to see the wrestling more often and we have the quality of stars, I think. It is the first year, and they will see what worked and didn’t work, what sold and didn’t sell and you adjust it,” he said.
As an East Coast guy, Gwizz will be competing in front of some of those who have supported his Olympic dream.
“I have some people from North Carolina, some friends who have made the drive. I also have some family coming down tomorrow from New York. There should be a good amount of people here rooting for me. I am looking forward to it,” he said.
All of the eyes of the wrestling world may be on Adam Coon on Saturday, especially because of what he did on Friday. Nick Gwiazdowski has kept his focus on just one thing, and aims to show just how much he has improved since winning that World medal in Paris last summer.
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