Anti-Doping

WADA Launches ‘ALPHA’ and ‘Coach True’ Certifications for Wrestling Community

Friday, July 17, 2020 - 01:13 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (July 17) – Without opportunities to compete on the mat, hundreds of top wrestlers and coaches have made the best of their recent downtime and earned certificates delivered through the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) educational tools, ALPHA and CoachTrue.

These educational programs are made available to all athletes and coaches by WADA via the e-learning platform ADeL. The programs intend to provide education and information about the dangers of doping, and the importance of anti-doping controls. They also provide solutions for clean progression in sport rather than simply focusing on what is not allowed.

In the framework of its anti-doping education program, United World Wrestling selected 500 wrestlers from 50 countries and around 150 coaches from 41 countries via their national federations and requested them to complete these programs. Participants who complete all sections of the course, as well as the post-course and the final exam, earned a certificate from WADA.

The wrestlers included those who have already qualified a place for the 2020 Tokyo Games as well as several top-ranked Junior and Senior level wrestlers from countries with a higher risk of doping. That risk was based on an assessment which considered several factors (rank, track record of positives in a country, number of tests collected).

UWW will gradually request all wrestlers and coaches planning to enter a major event (Games, World Junior and Senior championships) to hold their respective certificate (or a recognized equivalent delivered by a National Anti-doping Organization) as a pre-requisite for attending. This has already been successfully implemented in past regional events.

The program also exists for medical professionals such as sports physicians, physiotherapists or sports nutritionists. UWW will extend the requirement to this population so that the athletes’ entourage become more knowledgeable and learn about their role in protecting clean sport.

UWW encourages all wrestlers and wrestlers’ entourage not yet selected to proactively take the course.

Click here to access the platform.

2027 World Championships

Las Vegas to Host 2027 World Championships

Sunday, May 10, 2026 - 16:07 By United World Wrestling Press

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LAS VEGAS (May 10) -- The 2027 World Championships will be held in Las Vegas, United States.

United World Wrestling and USA Wrestling have announced that next year's Senior World Championships, that will also serve as the first Olympic qualifier for 2028 LA Games, will be held at the historic Thomas & Mack Center, University of Las Vegas, Nevada from September 11 to 19. The center has a capacity of around 20,000.

The announcement came on the sidelines of the Pan-American Championships that are being held in Coralville, Iowa from May 7 to 10. The 2027 World Championships will mark a return of the mega event to the U.S. after 12 years as the country hosted the competition in 2015.

It will also award the first direct quotas for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. The 72 medalists in 18 Olympic weight classes at the 2027 World Championships will earn quotas for their respective National Olympic Committees.

"USA Wrestling is thrilled to bring the World Championships back to U.S. soil for the first time since 2015,” said Rich BENDER, USA Wrestling Executive Director. "Las Vegas will provide an elite experience for our world-class athletes and spectators, while building great momentum for the sport leading into the 2028 Olympic Games down the road in Los Angeles."

Earlier in January, UWW had detailed how wrestlers can qualify their respective NOCs for LA 2028 trough World Championships, Continental Olympic Qualifiers, UWW Rankings and the World Olympic Qualifiers.

The calendar for "Road to LA 2028" was also shared by UWW last week, detailing an expansive calendar with World Championships, Continental Championships, UWW Ranking Events and World and Continental Olympic Qualifiers.

Age-Group Worlds Calendar

In addition to the Senior World Championships, UWW also announced the U17, U20 and U23 World Championships for 2027.

The World Championships season will kick off in Amman, Jordan which will host the U17 World Championships from August 2 to 8. Two weeks later, Novi Sad, Serbia will play host to the U20 World Championships from August 23 to 29.

Next up will be the Veteran World Championships that will travel to the scenic town of Porec, Croatia and will be held from October 5 to 10. The last world event for the year will be the U23 World Championships and Brasov, Romania is scheduled to host it from October 18 to 24.

2027 World Championships
U17 - AMMAN, Jordan (August 2-8)
U20 - NOVI SAD, Serbia (August 23-29)
Senior - LAS VEGAS, U.S. (September 11-19)
Veteran - POREC, Croatia (October 5-10)
U23 - BRASOV, Romania (October 18-24)

As previously communicated by UWW, the age-group World Championships will see a significant change starting 2028 calendar. The U20 World Championships will be held before the U17 World Championships and the U23 World Championships will take place before the Senior World Championships.

The detailed progamme of the World Championships will be shared by UWW in due time. For more information about wrestling events, visit uww.org/events.