The 3 Most Anticipated Matches for the 2020 Olympic Team Trials
The 3 Most Anticipated Match-Ups for the 2020 Olympic Team Trials
The 2019 World Championships for Men’s Freestyle starts tonight. While I’m excited for World’s to get underway, I can’t help but look ahead to the 2020 US Olympic Team Trials (OTT). The event is being held next April at Penn State, with the winner earning a spot on the 2020 Olympic Team.
The catch is that there are only six Olympic weights, as opposed to 10 for the World Championships. This creates major logjams for the US as multiple world champions will need to cut down or go up in weight to have a chance to wrestle in Tokyo next August. Here are the three match-ups I’m most excited for at the OTT’s next April.
#1 – Jordan Burroughs v. Kyle Dake (74kg)
Not only is this the most competitive match of the US Trials, it very well could be the most competitive match for an Olympic spot on any team in the world, including Russia.
JB is one of the best American wrestlers of all time, winning Olympic gold in 2012, four World titles and two World Bronze medals since bursting onto the international scene in 2011.
Dake, on the other hand, won the 2018 World Championships and is poised to win a second consecutive title this weekend in Kazakhstan. After winning four NCAA titles at four different weight classes for Cornell, Dake wrestled and lost to JB for a spot on Team USA in 2013, 2015 and 2017.
While JB is 7-1 against Dake, their last series of matches for the 2017 world team were extremely competitive. Here is match number two from the 2017 best of three series.
Keep in mind that if JB medals this weekend at the World Championships, he will earn a bye to the OTT finals next April, whereas if Dake medals this weekend he will have a bye to the challenge tournament finals.
I can’t wait for this match, though there is always the chance that Dake goes up to 86kg.
#2 – Daton Fix v. Spencer Lee (57kg)
Two of the best young wrestlers in the US right now, Spencer Lee and Daton Fix.
Lee has won two NCAA titles in as many years for the Iowa Hawkeyes and was a three-time age-level World Champion.
Fix on the other hand, was an NCAA runner-up for the Oklahoma State Cowboys this year to Nick Suriano at 133 lbs (who is also expected to compete at 57kg at the OTT), but cut down to 57kg / 125.5 lbs and made his first senior-level world team this past June. Daton has won multiple age-level world medals and a 2017 Junior World title.
Both of these guys have been setting the US ablaze in the past couple of years, and while they have not wrestled in college, they did wrestle at the 2013 and 2015 age-level world team trials. Lee won in 2013, while Fix won in 2015.
Because Lee has not wrestled freestyle in the past couple of seasons, we can only speculate how this match will turn-out. Keep in mind though, if Fix wins a medal at the World Championships this weekend, he will earn a bye to the OTT finals. This would be huge considering that Lee would have to go through a loaded field in the challenge tournament, likely consisting of Thomas Gillman (World Bronze medalist), Joe Colon (World Bronze medalist), Nick Suriano and Nahshon Garrett.
#3 David Taylor v. J’den Cox (86kg)
If you can’t tell by now, the 2020 OTT’s are going to be crazy exciting to watch, and this match-up fits the bill.
Taylor or DT is probably the most popular wrestler in the US. After sitting behind both JB and Dake for the US world teams, he won the 2018 World Championships and before that two NCAA titles for Penn State. His first-round match at last year’s World Championships against reigning Olympic Champ Yazdani (Iran) is one of my favorite come from behind wins. I still get choked-up watching it.
Cox, on the other hand, is one of the best wrestlers in the world regardless of weight, and also won a 2018 World Championship at (92 kg). Before that, he beat Dake to earn a spot on the 2016 Olympic Team, earning a bronze Medal. He also placed third at the 2017 World Championships. In short, Cox has won 3x NCAA titles, and has medaled at every World or Olympic Championships since 2016. He’s poised to win his second straight world championship this weekend.
Because of the limited weights for the Olympics, Cox will likely cut down to 86kg for the OTT, forcing the match-up with Taylor.
Cox and DT are not strangers, as they had three grueling matches at the 2017 US World Team Trials, with Cox winning in the narrowest of margins. In match one, DT controlled the pace and won, whereas match two went to Cox. Match 3 was an absolute battle, with Cox hyper-extending his knee before holding on for the win.
We can only imagine how competitive this match-up will be next April, assuming it happens of course. Keep in mind though, with Cox sitting squarely between 86kg and 97kg, we could also see him move up and square off against reigning Olympic champ Kyle Snyder. When I interviewed Cox on the Wrestling Changed My Life Podcat, he mentioned that he has still not made up his mind on his 2020 weight class.
I don’t know about you, but with the 2019 World’s this weekend, the NCAA’s right around the corner and the OTT taking place next April, I could not be more excited to watch the US’ best battle over the next 10 months.
Ryan
