#FreestyleFriday: Looking at the Non-Olympic weight class World Champions

Photo of J'den Cox by Justin Hoch. 

With the 2019 World Championships concluded, the most elite wrestlers across the globe will turn their attention to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. Winning an Olympic gold medal is the pinnacle of wrestling achievements. With there only being six Olympic weight classes per style, four of this year’s World champions will have to either gain weight or shrink their bodies to even be eligible to compete.Let’s take a look at the non-Olympic weight class men’s freestyle World Champions from Nur-Sultan.

61 kg Beka Lomtadze (Georgia)

Despite being on the Senior scene since 2011 and competing in five World championships, Lomtadze has never competed in the Olympic Games. This year, Lomtadze brought home his second World medal and first World title. He took silver in 2016 at the non-Olympic weight class World Championships. In the finals, he lost to American Logan Stieber.

Following his 2016 performance, Lomtadze dropped to 57 kg for the 2017 World Championships where he had a disappointing 17th place finish. That is the last time he competed at 57 kg.

In September of 2018, Lomtadze tried his hand at 65 kg during the Waclaw Ziolkowski Memorial in Poland. It did not go well, and he finished in 16th place. Without a doubt, 61 kg is Lomtadze’s best weight class, and it will be interesting to see if he is even able to qualify for the Olympics at whichever weight he chooses.

70 kg David Baev (Russia)

At his first senior level World Championship, Baev won gold. It’s not entirely surprising given that Baev has been successful in every age group he wrestled in. He is a 2014 Cadet World champion, a 2017 Junior Word champion and a 2018 U23 World silver medalist.

Baev won his Junior gold at 66 kg, but that year he still competed at Russian Nationals at 70 kg, where he placed third. It seems highly unlikely that he would cut to 65 kg for the Olympic year, and it has even been reported that his personal coach said he will move up to 74 kg. If he did attempt the cut to 65 kg, he would have to contend with returning 65 kg World Champion, and two-time World runner-up at 61 kg, Gadshimurad Rashidov and a slew of other highly credentialed Russians.

However, bumping up to 74 kg does not yield an easier path for Baev. Zaurbek Sidakov has won the past two World Championships at 74 kg, besting superstars Jordan Burroughs and Frank Chamizo in both tournaments. Even if Baev defeated Sidakov in a wrestle off, it is not guaranteed he will be the Russian representative at the Olympics, given that there system has an element of subjectivity. Due to their young ages (Baev is 21 and Sidakov is 23), these rivals could be battling for World Team spots against each other for the better part of the next decade.

79 kg Kyle Dake (United States)

Kyle Dake repeated as a World champion this year after a long layoff due to injury. While he didn’t go unscored upon, like he did in 2018, Dake was never seriously challenged. Rob Koll, his coach, has stated that Dake will go 74 kg for the Olympic year.

In 2016, Dake came in second at the Olympic Team Trials at 86 kg, falling two matches to one to J’den Cox, who would go on to take bronze at the Rio Olympics. By all accounts, Dake was undersized, hence his desire to go 74 kg for 2020.

In 2013, 2015 and 2017 Kyle Dake was a World Team Trials runner-up to Jordan Burroughs, one of the best American wrestlers of all time. Burroughs, a 2012 Olympic champion, four-time World champion, and three-time World bronze medalist, already has a bye to the Olympic Team Trials finals due to earning a bronze medal in Nur-Sultan. Dake will have a bye to the semifinals due to his medal at a non-Olympic weight class.

92 kg J’den Cox

Besides his 2016 Olympic bronze medal, Cox has a 2017 World bronze medal at 86 kg and two gold medals at 92 kg from 2018 and 2019. In Nur-Sultan, Cox did not surrender a point. After his gold medal match, Cox said he was unsure if he would compete at 86 kg or 92 kg. The last time Cox made 86 kg, weigh-ins were the night before the event. Now, they are the morning of competition.

Either route Cox takes will be a tough one. If he goes 86 kg, he will have 2018 World champion David Taylor to contend with. Taylor was named the 2018 “Best Wrestler of the Year” by United World Wrestling. However, he was unable to compete for a World Team spot in 2019 due to injury, and the U.S. was represented by Patrick Downey. Cox defeated Taylor in the 2017 World Team trials finals, two matches to one.

If Cox bumps up, he could face 2016 Olympic champion and two-time World champion Kyle Snyder, who is already in the Olympic Team Trials finals after a bronze medal performance in Nur-Sultan. Snyder is also a 2018 World silver medalist. Cox and Snyder are two of the best wrestlers in the world and have both medaled at every Senior World Championship they have competed in.

The pair have wrestled several times, splitting matches in the 2012 Fargo finals at 220 pounds. Snyder won in Greco-Roman, while Cox won in freestyle. The most recent match they wrestled was in the 2015 197 pound NCAA semifinals in folkstyle, where Snyder took a 3-2 decision.