#WrestleCoralville

Hosts USA announces FS/WW World Cup teams

By Gary Abbott

CORALVILLE, Iowa (November 15) --- USA Wrestling announced its lineups for both its men’s and women’s freestyle teams which will compete at the Freestyle and Women’s Freestyle World Cup at Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa, December 10-11.

The World Cup is the annual international dual meet championships. The top five teams in men’s freestyle and the top five teams in women’s freestyle from the 2022 Senior World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia in September have confirmed their participation. There is also an All-World Team in each discipline, featuring the top available athlete from the World Championships in each weight class that were not from a nation that qualified for the World Cup.

The U.S. World Cup teams will feature two Olympic champions, four world champions and 10 past world medalists. It will also include a number of talented young stars who are making an impact internationally.

The freestyle team will feature a pair of Olympic and world champions, Jordan BURROUGHS at 79kg and Kyle SNYDER at 97kg. Burroughs is a 2012 Olympic champion, a six-time world champion and has won 10 career world and Olympic medals. Burroughs is the first U.S. wrestler to win seven world and Olympic titles. Snyder is a 2016 Olympic champion, 2020 Olympic silver medalist, a three-time world champion and has won eight career world and Olympic medals.

Yianni DIAKOMIHALIS, a 2022 world silver medalist, will compete at 65kg. Two other members of the 2022 world team are on the USA lineup, Seth GROSS at 61kg and Hayden ZILLMER at 125kg. Nick GWIAZDOWSKI, a two-time world bronze medalist, is also on the U.S. freestyle team at 125kg. 

The United States, which won the 2022 world team title, will be joined in the World Cup by second-place Iran, third-place Japan, fourth-place Mongolia and fifth-place Georgia, in addition to the All-World Team.

In women’s wrestling, a pair of world champions are on the team, 2019 world champion Jacarra WINCHESTER at 55kg and 2022 world champion Amit ELOR at 72kg. Winchester was also a member of the 2020 Olympic team. Elor became the first USA wrestler to win three world titles in the same year, also capturing a U20 world title and a U23 world title.

The team also features two-time world silver medalist Kayla MIRACLE at 62kg, two-time world bronze medalist Alyssa LAMPE at 50kg, two-time world bronze medalist Mallory VELTE at 65kg and 2021 world bronze medalist Jenna BURKERT at 55kg. Also competing on the U.S. team is 2022 World Team member Dymond GUILFORD at 76kg. 

The women’s team features a local athlete, Felicity TAYLOR at 53kg, who is a member of the women’s wrestling team at the University of Iowa and is a native Iowan. 

The United States, which was second at the 2022 World Championships in women’s wrestling, will be joined in the World Cup by World champion Japan, third place China, fourth place Mongolia and fifth place Ukraine, in addition to the All-World Team. 

Ticket packages for the 2022 Men’s and Women’s Freestyle World Cup are currently on sale. The seating capacity for Xtream Arena for the World Cup will be approximately 5,300. Ticket packages include a Gold package for $275, a Silver package for $200 and All-Session tickets for $90.

A special presentation of teams and Team USA Meet & Greet will also be held on Friday, December 9, with tickets available at $10. Fans can receive a free youth ticket for the Friday night event, with the purchase of an adult general admission ticket.

Men’s and Women’s Freestyle World Cup tickets -> https://worldcupiowacity.com/tickets/

USA's Freestyle World Cup Team:
57kg – Zane RICHARDS 
57kg – Nick SURIANO 
61kg – Seth GROSS 
61kg – Daniel DESHAZER 
65kg – Yianni DIAKOMIHALIS 
65kg – Evan HENDERSON|
70kg – Tyler BERGER
70kg – Alec PANTALEO 
74kg – Jason NOLF 
74kg – Vincenzo JOSEPH
79kg – Jordan BURROUGHS 
79kg – Chance MARSTELLER 
86kg – Zahid VALENCIA 
86kg – Mark HALL
92kg – Nathan JACKSON
92kg – Jay AIELLO 
97kg – Kyle SNYDER 
97kg – Kollin MOORE 
125kg – Hayden ZILLMER 
125kg – Nick GWIAZDOWSKI 

USA's Women's Wrestling World Cup Team:
50 kg – Alyssa LAMPE 
50 kg – Erin GOLSTON 
53 kg – Felicity TAYLOR
53 kg – Ronna GROSS
55 kg – Jacarra WINCHESTER 
55 kg – Jenna BURKERT
57 kg – Alexandra HEDRICK
57 kg – Amanda MARTINEZ
59 kg – Lexie BASHAM 
59 kg – Michaela BECK 
62 kg – Kayla MIRACLE 
62 kg – Jennifer ROGERS 
65 kg – Mallory VELTE
68 kg – Sienna RAMIREZ
68 kg – Solin PIEARCY 
72 kg – Amit ELOR 
72 kg – Skylar GROTE 
76 kg – Dymond GUILFORD 
76 kg – Yelena MAKOYEV 

#UnitedWorldWrestling

UWW successfully hosts first-ever World Conference

By United World Wrestling Press

ZAGREB, Croatia (September 24) -- United World Wrestling successfully hosted its first-ever World Conference in Zagreb, Croatia from September 17 to 19.

UWW President Nenad LALOVIC welcomed all the guest to the conference, held during the World Championships in Zagreb, and led the floor with discussions on Artificial Intelligence in wrestling, Amateur MMA, developing wrestling and the impact of social media to keep wrestling at the top.

Nenad LALOVICUnited World Wrestling President Nenad LALOVIC at the World Conference. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Jake Kirkman)

"On behalf of United World Wrestling, I wish you a warm welcome in Zagreb first, but to this conference too," Lalovic said. "We had this idea maybe almost a decade ago. We were seeking for a platform, how these good relations among wrestlers and the national federations can improve our sport."

Injury prevention, weight management, career transitions for wrestlers, as well as the future of the sport were some of the key discussions during the three-day event at the Westin Hotel.

Kolinda GRABAR-KITAROVICInternational Olympic Committee member and former President of Croatia Kolinda GRABAR-KITAROVIC.

Former President of Croatia and International Olympic Committee member Kolinda GRABAR-KITAROVIC marked her presence at the historic event in capital city of Croatia.

Ministry of Tourism and Sports, Croatia State Secretary Josip PAVIC was also present at the conference and expressed his gratitude for entrusting Croatia for hosting the championships and the conference. Croatia Wrestling Federation President Vladimir BREGOVIC, Dean of University of Kinesiology, Zagreb Prof. Mario BAIC and numerous other stakeholders marked their presence at the conference.

On day one of the conference, UWW's growth in media and digital transformation was discussed with focus on strategy, social media, partnership and equipment and new technologies. The discussion then headed to Beach Wrestling and Associated Styles with Amateur MMA and Grappling as the main topics.

Zack ERRETT

The second day of the conference saw UWW Educator Zach ERRETT explaining the rules of Beach Wrestling, International Testing Agency Senior Legal Counsel Ayesha TALPADE presenting details of anti-doping program, followed by a panel discussion.

Kuniko TANIOKA, President of the Shigakkan University in Japan, led the discussion on sport nutrition and weight management along with UWW Medical Commission members Saam FALAHATI, Ioannis BARBAS and Szabolcs MOLNAR.

Former wrestlers shared their experiences on transitioning from wrestling to other jobs. Neven and Nenad ZUGAJ were among the panellists that also included Mijain LOPEZ, Taha AGKUL, Arsen JULFALAKYAN, Don RYAN, Alexei BAZULIN, Erica WEIBE, Bruce BAUMGARTNER.

Sofia MATTSSON

Head of the United States women's team Terry STEINER presented the "coaching the women's" part on day three. He explained how to support and train women wrestlers and led the panel that also had Tanioka, Marwa AMRI, Vincent AKA, Sofia MATTSSON, Wiebe and Nadine PIETSCHMAN.

"Depending on the success of this first World Conference, we will decide if in the future it will be a biannual one or a quadrennial one. Maybe every year if you have so much to say," Lalovic said. "World Championships is the best opportunity for that because people are already here. This physical presence is always more efficient."

WorkshopA national federation workshop organized by United World Wrestling in Zagreb.

NF workshop

UWW also organized a workshop for the National Federations. UWW Sports Director Jean-Daniel REY and UWW Development Director Deqa NIAMKEY welcomed various NFs which had registered for the workshop.

Capacity building, finance and event organization were the key topics at the workshop. Croatia Wrestling Federation Secretary General Tin BREGOVIC, Professor of Kinesiology Nenad BORKOVIC, Professional Master in Social Innovation and Management Ivan BLAZEVIC led a panel discussion on the topic as they were part of the organizing committee for the World Championships in Zagreb.

Azerbaijan, Brazil, Spain and Thailand presented case studies related to event organization and the challenges of competitions.