Weekly FIVE!

Weekly FIVE! December 31, 2018

By Eric Olanowski

Reviewing the release of tomorrow's Best Wrestler of Year award and the revamped Ranking Series structure. Also taking a look at the potential Snyder and Sadulaev round three matchup at the Ivan Yarygin in three weeks. 

1. Best Wrestler of the Year Award to be Released on January 1 
United World Wrestling will open up the new year by releasing the “2018 Best Wrestler of the Year” award for one wrestler from freestyle, Greco-Roman, and women’s wrestling. 

The winners of the Best Wrestler of the Year award were each 2018 world champions that accumulated the highest number of points during the year with the newly approved calculation of points. 

The freestyle award winner finished the year with 112 points, two Ranking Series titles, a Pan-American gold medal and reached the top of the podium for the first time at the World Championships. 

The Greco-Roman Best Wrestler of the Year had 82 points, medaled at a pair of Ranking Series events, and won the world title for the second time. 

The Women's Wrestling Best Wrestler of the Year wrapped up the 2018 season with 110 points and won gold medals at the Klippan Lady Open, the European Championships, and the World Championships. 

2. Wrestling Revamps Ranking Series System, Names 2019 Host Locations
The United World Wrestling Bureau has approved new regulations for the 2019 Ranking Series. The recommendations were brought forward by the Technical Commission at a meeting last week in Belgrade.

The most important changes to the 2019 Ranking Series centered around the allocation of points at world championships, continental championships, and Ranking Series events. The points were rebalanced to emphasize participation, and success, at the world and continental championships.

New worldwide rankings have been updated on the United World Wrestling website. The 2018 World Championships results are the basis of the rankings, as each year the world championships results will be the first points for the following year.

The seeding process for the World Championships and Olympic Games will now also include a field of the top four wrestlers in each weight category with lower seeded athletes bumping up, should one of the top four not participate in the world championships. The previous version of the world championships did not replace top seeds when they were absent of the competition.

Click HERE to see locations for the freestyle, Greco-Roman, and women's wrestling Ranking Series events.

4. Ivan Yarygin Kicks Off Ranking Series Events In Three Weeks 
The Ranking Series events will kick off in a little over three weeks on January 24 with the Ivan Yarygin in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, a competition long hailed as the “Toughest Wrestling Tournament in the World.” The 2019 edition is already creating a response, with top-level wrestlers from around the world committed to the competition, including 97kg rivals Abdulrashid SADULAEV (RUS) and Kyle SNYDER (USA).

Though they won't be official entries until 24 hours before competition, the early list will be released after registration closes in 10 days.

5. Potential Snyder and Sadulaev Round 3 Set for Ivan Yarygin 
The wrestling world patiently waited over a year for one of the most anticipated matchups of 2018 between the four-time world and Olympic champion Abdulrashid SADULAEV (RUS) and three-time world and Olympic champion Kyle SNYDER (USA). 

That doesn't seem to be the case heading into 2019 after Snyder took to Instagram to inform Sadulaev that he's heading to Krasnoyarsk to compete at the Ivan Yarygin with hopes of a rematch after getting pinned by "The Tank" in the 97kg gold-medal bout of the 2018 World Championships. 

Snyder tagged Sadulaev in that post with the comment, “Round 3. Lets do it. Krasnoyarsk, Russia." Sadulaev quickly responded, saying, ”Buddy Snyder, I understand your condition, but I advise you to approach the trilogy with a cool head. And then suddenly the psyche will suffer. On the way to Tokyo 2020 we will meet again.”

The pair of superstars are each returning Yarygin champions. Snyder won his second Yarygin title a season ago at 97kg, while Sadulaev also won his second title, but down at 92kg. If they were to meet in the finals of the Yarygin, it would be at 97kg. 

Weekly FIVE! In Social Media 
1. Big Move Monday !
2. Top-10 2018 amateur video? Тоp-10 любительских видео 2018 года✊
3. #SundaySmiles ? horses_dag05 <<Ко лбу лошади привязано добро до Судного дня>> Подписывайтесь братья группа о лошадях в Дагестане ?
4. #ScoreThat - Who came out on top of this exchange? Was it red or was it blue?
5. Over this week @unitedworldwrestling will share our most popular videos and photos from 2018 В течении этой недели мы будем делиться с вами лучшими публикациями 2018 года. #thebestof2018 #лучшееиз2018

Weekly FIVE!

Weekly FIVE! August 27, 2019

By Eric Olanowski

Discussing Diakomihalis and Retherford's Wrestle-off next Monday and Khizriev missing the World Championships. Also looking at the top-four world championship seeds for freestyle, Greco-Roman and women's wrestling. 

1. Diakomihalis and Retherford to Wrestle-off Next Monday 
Yianni DIAKOMIHALIS (USA) and Zain RETHERFORD (USA) will wrestle-off next Monday (September 2) to determine the tenth and final spot on the United States’ freestyle world team. 

Retherford initially won the first three-match series, but Diakomihalis challenged the outcome of the Retherford's second victory. Diakomihalis and his coaching staff weren't happy with the timeliness of the challenge from Retherford’s corner which determined the match outcome.

Diakomihalis took his case to arbitration and ended up getting the second match nullified – meaning the pair will re-wrestle the second match, and possibly a third match if need be. 

Retherford heads into the September 6 matchup owning the one match advantage. He’d have to win one match to punch his second ticket to a world championship, while Diakomihalis would have to win two straight matches to cement his spot on his first senior-level world team. 

Anzor KHIZRIEV (RUS)  will miss the World Championships due to an arm injury. (Photo: Sachiko Hotaka)

2. Khizriev Out of World Championships
Russia’s starting heavyweight Anzor KHIZRIEV (RUS) suffered an arm injury during training and will no longer compete in Nur-Sultan at the World Championships. 

Khizriev, who is ranked fifth in the world at 125kg, has established himself as one of the best super heavyweights in the world over the past year. This season, Khizriev took out the two-time world and Olympic champion Taha AKGUL (TUR) to win the prestigious Ivan Yariguin title. He also won the European Games and placed third at the European Championships. His lone loss this season came to the aforementioned Akgul in the European semifinals. 

Khizriev’s replacement hasn’t been named, but there are two suitable candidates who Russia may throw into the World Championships. The first being Russian National champion Alan KHUGAEV (RUS) -- which is the likely decision they'll roll with if the second option isn’t available. Though unlikely, that second option is one of the most versatile big men the sport has ever seen, Bilyal MAKHOV (RUS). 

Makhov last competed at the World Championships in 2015, when he won a bronze medal in both freestyle and Greco-Roman -- bringing his overall world medal count to seven total world medals. He also owns an Olympic bronze medal from the 2012 London Olympic Games. 

Most recently, Makhov returned after a 21-month hiatus in preparation for a run to his third Olympic Games. In his August return, Makhov finished in second place at the Poland Open. 

Makhov’s Resume 
Olympic Games – Bronze (2012)
Freestyle World Championships– Gold (2007, ’09 and ‘10), Silver (2011) and Bronze (2015),
Greco-Roman World Championships – Bronze (2011 and ‘15) 

Bajrang PUNIA (IND) is one of six wrestlers who overthrew a reigning world champion for the top seed in Nur-Sultan. (Photo: Gabor Martin)

3. Freestyle Top-Four Seeds 
After a year of jockeying for position, the top-four freestyle seeds for the 2019 World Championships (September 14-22) are finally locked up. Six non-returning world champions overthrew a Budapest world gold medalist and head into Nur-Sultan garnering a top spot at their respective weight class. 

Of the ten 2018 world champions, Yowlys BONNE RODRIGUEZ (CUB), Kyle DAKE (USA), J'Den COX (USA) and Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) were the only wrestlers who held onto their top ranking. 

Click here to see a full breakdown of the top-four seeded wrestlers at each weight. 

Here Are the Freestyle No. 1 Seeds at Each Weight:
57kg - Suleyman ATLI (TUR)
61kg - Yowlys BONNE RODRIGUEZ (CUB)
65kg - Bajrang PUNIA (IND)
70kg - Adam BATIROV (BRN)
74kg - Frank CHAMIZO (ITA)
79kg - Kyle DAKE (USA)
86kg - Fatih ERDIN (TUR)
92kg - J'Den COX (USA)
97kg - Kyle SNYDER (USA)
125kg - Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO)

Stepan MARYANYAN (RUS) is one of five Russian wrestlers who are seeded first at the World Championships. (Photo: Gabor Martin)

4. Greco-Roman Top-Four Seeds
Nine European wrestlers and Asia's KIM Hyeonwoo (KOR) own a Greco-Roman top seed heading into the World Championships. Of the nine European wrestlers who own a Greco-Roman top seed, five will be wearing a Russian singlet. Furthermore, each of the five top-seeded Russian wrestlers are looking to defend their world title from last year. 

Click here to see a full breakdown of the top-four seeded wrestlers at each weight. 

Here Are the Greco-Roman No. 1 Seeds at Each Weight:
55kg - Eldaniz AZIZLI (AZE)
60kg - Sergey EMELIN (RUS)
63kg - Stepan MARYANYAN (RUS) 
67kg - Artem SURKOV (RUS)
72kg - Aik MNATSAKANIAN (BUL)
77kg - Hyeonwoo KIM (KOR)
82kg - Emrah KUS (TUR)
87kg - Zhan BELENIUK (UKR)
97kg - Musa EVLOEV (RUS)
130kg - Sergey SEMENOV (RUS)

Oksana LIVACH (UKR) gained the No. 1 seed at 50kg after reigning two-time world champion Yui SUSAKI (JPN) lost her wrestle-off. (Max Rose-Fyne)

5. Women’s Wrestling Top-Four Seeds 
There is a trio of women's wrestling returning world champions who have cemented their spot as the No. 1 seed at the World Championships. The three top seed returning world champions looking to win back-to-back world titles are RONG Ningning (CHN), Taybe YUSEIN (BUL) and Alla CHERKASOVA (UKR).

Meanwhile, Sarah HILDEBRANDT (USA), Zalina SIDAKOVA (BLR) and Yasemin ADAR (TUR) each fell in last year's world finals but clawed their way into a women's wrestling top seed. The three world silver medalists head into Kazakhstan with hopes of improving their second-place finish from 2018. 

Click here to see a full breakdown of the top-four seeded wrestlers at each weight. 

Here Are the Women's Wrestling No. 1 Seeds at Each Weight: 
50kg - Oksana LIVACH (UKR)
53kg - Sarah HILDEBRANDT (USA)
55kg - Zalina SIDAKOVA (BLR) 
57kg - Ningning RONG (CHN)
59kg - Yuzuka INAGAKI (JPN)
62kg - Taybe Mustafa YUSEIN (BUL)
65kg - Forrest Ann MOLINARI (USA)
68kg - Alla CHERKASOVA (UKR)
72kg - Nasanburmaa OCHIRBAT (MGL)
76kg - Yasemin ADAR (TUR)

*These seeds are based off the current unofficial entries United World Wrestling has received as of August 21. These seeds are subject to change.

Weekly FIVE! In Social Media 
1. Big Move Monday -- Gvarzatilov A. (AZE) -- Senior Worlds 2016
2. Are you coming to support your wrestlers in #WrestleNurSultan? Buy your tickets! Link in Bio.
3. @vlasovroma90@yui106301susaki@vladimerkhinchegashvili have both Junior and Senior World Champion titles. Who else? And who is next? Tag three other wrestlers who won or will win both Junior and Senior World Championships!
4. Today is 89th birthday of Iranian legend Pahlavan Gholamreza Takhti. Iranians have named the day as “National Day of Wrestling” in the official calendar of the country.
5. The top-four seeded wrestlers at 76kg combine to have SIX world and an Olympic gold. 
Expected 76kg Top-Four Seeds
1. @yasemin.adar (TUR)
2. @adelinegray (USA)
3. @aline.focken (GER)
4. @eweebz (CAN)