#FreestyleFriday: Anthony Ashnault back from injury and ready to compete

National Team member Anthony Ashnault looks to write another impressive comeback story as he’s training for the 2020 Olympic Trials.

In May, Ashnault, fresh off finishing his college career and becoming one of the first NCAA champions for Rutgers, made a quick transition into freestyle and found himself in the finals of the World Team Trials Challenge Tournament at 70 kg/154 lbs.

He was taking on two-time World medalist and eventual five-time Senior World team member James Green in the best-of-three finals series, when Ashnault suffered a major knee injury.

“I was in a leg lace and fought a little bit too hard,” Ashnault said. “My hips were facing one way and my knees were twisted up. I felt the pop and I knew something was wrong. Sometimes those pops are significant and sometimes, they’re nothing, so I defaulted out, went to the doctor, had an MRI. It showed that I had my LCL and PCL.”

He had surgery shortly after. It was a procedure that left him with a six-to-nine month recovery time, meaning he would be back with little time to spare before the 2020 Olympic Trials.

Ashnault didn’t panic. He had been through a similar situation before.

“In 2017, I had shoulder labrum and bicep tendon repair, which has a similar recovery process,” he said. “I was really down in the dumps about that one. When that first happened, I was in college, and I thought it was going to mess up my chances of becoming an NCAA champion. But I pushed through those feelings to make a full recovery and ended up becoming an NCAA champ. When the knee injury happened, it was almost like motivation, like it was time to prove myself again. I knew I could get my body back to the point that it was because I had done it before.”

Just last month, Ashnault, who trains in the Rutgers wrestling room as well as the New Jersey Regional Training Center, was cleared to return to the sport, and for the last 10 days, he’s been at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., for National Team training camp.

“Wrestling is one of those sports, where coming off an injury, you have to be careful because it’s still a combat sport. I’ve just been smart in my return,” Ashnault said. “Coming out to this camp was vital for me because when you’re cleared from an injury, it doesn’t really matter what level of athlete you’re going with in practice; you just want to make sure you’re able to do the sport again and get your timing back. Now that I feel like I’m ready to get back to competing, it was important to me to come to this camp and test myself. I’ve been here since last Wednesday, and I haven’t missed a practice. It’s given me a lot of confidence, knowing that my body is ready to go.”

We can expect to see Ashnault return to competition next month as he has been given the nod to represent the United States at the Pan American Championships in Ottawa, Canada, where he’ll compete at 70 kg. It will mark his second-straight appearance at Pan Ams.

Last April, Ashnault won the Pan Am title at 70 kg, helping the U.S. to a record-breaking performance, which led to 10 gold medals in men’s freestyle.

This time, there is a little more on the line. Should Ashnault win gold again this year, he will secure a bid to the Olympic Team Trials, something he has not yet done, due to his injury.

“Last time with Pan Ams, there was nothing to lose, and I just had fun wrestling. This time, it feels more like a business trip. The plan is to win Pan Ams while representing the United States the best I can and also qualifying for the Olympic Trials.”

Since 70 kg is not an Olympic weight, Ashnault had to choose whether to go down to 65 kg/143 lbs. or move up to 74 kg/163 lbs. The decision wasn’t a tough one for the New Jersey native.

“I competed at 149 pounds in college, and my first three years, I wrestled 141, so although I’m a little bigger, the best decision was to go down rather than up,” he said. “The most I weigh in pounds is about 160, and that’s when I’m not working out and just eating whatever I want. The 74 kg weight class is 163 pounds, so guys are coming down from at least 170 and some even at 175. Right now, where I’m at with my weight, I think going down would give me the best chance to succeed.”

The Pan American Championships are set for March 6-9 and will be live streamed on Trackwrestling.com. USA Wrestling will announce the rest of its lineup in the next few weeks.

You can keep up with Anthony and his journey on his Twitter (@AnthonyAshnault) and Instagram (@aashnautl2020) pages.