USA Wrestling’s new Performance Index (PIN) rates each athlete based upon result data against opponents
by Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling
USA Wrestling has released a new data-driven measurement for every athlete member of the organization who has results at USA Wrestling events, United World Wrestling events and other major competitions.
Called the Performance Index, or PIN for short, this measurement will constantly be updated from this point moving forward, based upon a member’s results against their specific opponents.
USA Wrestling’s PIN will be used for separating many major USA Wrestling competitions moving forward including the Women’s National Championships next week in Spokane, and the age-group national championship events held at the U.S. Open in Las Vegas. For the U.S. Senior Nationals in Las Vegas, the PIN will be a tool for the seeding process.
USA Wrestling PIN data was used to separate the recent USA Wrestling Folkstyle Nationals in Cedar Falls, with an extremely high success rate in predicting the placewinners. In the Junior division at Folkstyle Nationals, 11 of the athletes with the No. 1 PINs made the finals, with seven of them winning the title. In the 16U Folkstyle Nationals, 13 of the athletes with No. 1 PINs made the finals, with eight of them winning the title. In both the Junior and 16U divisions, 13 of the athletes with No. 2 and No. 3 PINs made the finals.
The USA Wrestling results database includes all USA Wrestling national and regional events going back to 2005, as well as results from many USA Wrestling state organizations. Major UWW international results are also included. USA Wrestling has also added many other competitions into its database, which allows for an even more accurate measurement.
If you are a member, and have competition results in USA Wrestling’s vast results database, your PIN is now displayed in your USA Wrestling membership profile.
ABOUT THE USA WRESTLING PIN
• The USA Wrestling Performance Index (PIN) measures consistency over time and rates the probability of a person winning against an opponent based on their bodies of work.
• A person with a higher PIN is considered more likely to beat someone with a lower PIN and the closer the PINs are between athletes, the closer the probability gets to 50/50 chances.
• This does not reward the one-time win or head-to-head over an opponent. What it does is reward an athlete’s consistency over time. If you consistently beat people with higher PINs, you will gain PIN points to surpass them in the index, given that you do not lose to lesser competition along the way.
• The more you wrestle, the more opportunity you have to change your PIN.
• The baseline number for a person’s PIN is 1,000 points. The more points your PIN has above 1,000 reflects positive success against your opponents.
HOW TO FIND YOUR USA WRESTLING PIN
• Sign in to your USA Wrestling membership profile
• Click “Go To Profiles”
• Click the button “Manage Profile” besides your membership profile
• In the top right corner of this screen, click on the results tab
• Under the header Recent Results, see your Current PIN Rating
What’s your USA Wrestling PIN?
USA Wrestling will regularly publish the top scoring athlete PIN standings based upon gender and age-group.
For example, here are the current top 10 PIN data at the Senior level in the three disciplines, as of April 5, 2023
Senior Men’s Freestyle PIN standings
1. Kyle Dake, 1773
2. Jordan Burroughs, 1772
3. David Taylor, 1766
4. Kyle Snyder, 1748
5. Thomas Gilman, 1,651
6. J’den Cox, 1,626
7. Daton Fix, 1,625
8. Yianni Diakomihalis, 1,535
9. Mark Hall, 1,511
10. (tie) Zain Retherford, 1,499
10. (tie) Vitali Arujau, 1,499
Senior Women's Freestyle PIN standings
1. Adeline Gray, 1,765
2. Helen Maroulis, 1,720
3. Tamyra Mensah-Stock, 1,700
4. Sarah Hildebrandt, 1.668
5. Kayla Miracle, 1,577
6. Jacarra Winchester, 1,522
7. Amit Elor, 1,521
8. Forrest Molinari, 1,480
9. Emily Shilson, 1,475
10. Macey Kilty, 1,460
Senior Greco-Roman PIN standings
1. Adam Coon, 1,462
2. Cohlton Schultz, 1,442
3. Braxton Amos, 1,439
4. Kamal Bey, 1,425
5. Max Nowry, 1,418
6. Ben Provisor, 1,412
7. Peyton Omania, 1,405
8. Jesse Thielke, 1,375
9. Patrick Smith, 1,373
10. Alejandro Sancho, 1,369