57kg Preview & Predictions - 2023 Senior World Championships
57kg Preview & Predictions - 2023 Senior World Championships
A full preview with predictions for the 57 kg weight class at the 2023 Senior World Wrestling Championships.
The 2023 Senior World Championships are set to go down in Belgrade, Serbia, September 16-24. The men’s freestyle portion of the tournament will take place from September 16-19. Check out the below article for a complete breakdown with predictions for the 57 kg weight class at the 2023 World Championships.
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57kg World Championship Ranking
Check out the top 10 wrestlers ranked at 57 kg who will compete at the 2023 World Championships. These rankings are based on head-to-head results between these competitors.
View all of our 2023 World Championship Rankings here.
The Favorite - 57kg King Zaur Uguev
Zaur Uguev is a two-time world champion and 2020 Olympic champion making him the clear favorite to win 57 kg in Belgrade. Because Russia hasn’t competed internationally over the past two years, we haven’t seen Uguev against some of the world’s best 57 kg wrestlers making this bracket especially intriguing.
Despite not wrestling at the past few world championships or European championships, Uguev wrestled both Arsen Harutyunyan and Zelimkhan Abakarov in two of Russia’s professional wrestling league events. Uguev defeated 2022 World Champion Zelimkhan Abakarov 3-0 at the PWL-4 in April 2023. Then Uguev took out two-time world bronze medalist Arsen Harutyunyan 6-4 this past July. Those wins, including his 2023 Russian Nationals title, prove that Uguev is still wrestling at an incredibly high level and that he's the man to beat at 57kg.
Zaur Uguev's win over Zelimkhan Abakarov:
Two World Championship Contenders
There aren’t many weights at worlds where 2 returning world champions aren’t the favorites but that’s the case at 57 kg with Rei Higuchi (2022 61 kg world champion) and Zelimkhan Abakarov (2022 57 kg world champion). As mentioned above, Abakarov dropped a match to Uguev at PWL-4 but has been ultra-impressive over the past two years. Abakarov recently defeated Vito Arujau up at 61 kg at the Budapest Ranking Series tournament and took out Thomas Gilman in the finals of last year’s worlds. Abakarov will have to figure out a way to get past Uguev's defense but his performance at last year's world championships proves he's capable of wrestling his best on the biggest stage.
Abakarov's win over Thomas Gilman in the 2022 world finals:
Rei Higuchi might be the biggest threat to dethrone Zaur Uguev as the 57 kg king. Last year Higuchi blitzed to a 61kg world title by recording three technical superiority wins and defeating Seth Gross 15-7. Higuchi also won a silver medal at the 2016 Olympics and has a past win over fellow countrymen and world/Olympic 65 kg champion Takuto Otoguro. Higuchi’s high-powered offense gives him the ability to quickly end matches and put up points in bunches. The biggest question surrounding Higuchi is how he’ll perform at the lower weight class. He’s yet to wrestle an international tournament at 57 kg and notably missed weight back in 2021 when attempting to qualify for the Olympics.
Rei Higuchi's win over Seth Gross in the 2022 world semi-finals:
Then there’s Arsen Harutyunyan - the only contender of the bunch who’s not a world champion. As mentioned, Harutyunyan recently dropped a close match to Zaur Uguev at Russia’s PWL-5 event in July. Harutyunyan was impressive in defeat against Uguev and proved he has the offense to get past Uguev’s normally staunch defense. Beyond the loss, Harutyunyan won a 61 kg European gold medal this past year where he defeated the above-mentioned Zelimkhan Abakarov in the finals, 5-2. Harutyunyan has won back-to-back world bronze medals at 61kg and has proven he has the ability to compete with the best in the world at 57 kg.
Harutyunyan's win over Abakarov in the 2023 European gold medal match:
Endless Sleepers and Darkhorses At 57kg
There are a number of wrestlers at 57 kg who have shown glimpses of having the potential to knock off any of the top 4 at the weight. We’ll start with Zane Richards who took out World Champion and 2022 world silver medalist Thomas Gilman in two straight matches at Final X. On top of the wins over Gilman, Richards defeated 2022 world bronze medalist Zanabazar Zandanbud at the World Cup in December of 2022. While those are impressive wins, Richards dropped matches in the past 6 months to both Aman Sherawat and Almaz Smanbekov. That mixture of results shows Richards is right there in the mix of potential medalists but is an underdog to win gold in Serbia.
Zane Richards' win over Thomas Gilman to make the 2023 World Team:
Azerbaijan’s Aliabas Rzazade is another dangerous competitor to watch out for at 57 kg. Rzazade is an accomplished wrestler who won a U23 world championship in 2021 and most recently won a European gold medal this past April. On top of those accolades, Rzazade has wins this year over the likes of Wanhao Zou, Yuto Nishiuchi (U20 world champ), Horst Lehr (world bronze medalist), and Suleyman Atli (2X world medalist).
Rzazade's win over 2-time world medalist Suleyman Atli:
India’s Aman Sherawat is another dangerous competitor to watch out for in Belgrade. Aman has wins over Almaz Smanbekov, Wanhao Zou, and Zane Richards this year and wrestles a pace that has the potential to melt anyone in the world. Aman was a U23 world champion last year and will compete for the first time at the senior world championship in Serbia.
Aman's win over Zane Richards at the 2023 Zagreb Open:
Stevan Micic (SRB), Zanabazar Zandanbud (MGL), and Suleyman Atli (TUR) are all past world medalists in this field who have proven themselves on the biggest stage. These three haven’t been as active lately but add incredible depth to an already deep field.
Finally, China’s Wanhao Zou has made a resurgence over the past year after taking over 2 years off of competition from 2020 to 2022. Zou placed 5th at last year’s world championships and most recently won the Budapest Ranking Series tournament in July where he defeated Almaz Smanbekov.
57 kg 2023 Worlds Predictions
It can't be overstated how deep 57 kg will be at the world championships this year. On top of the depth, Rei Higuchi, Arsen Harutyunyan, Aman Sherawat, Zane Richards, Aliabbas Rzazade, and Zaur Uguev will all be unseeded and randomly drawn into the bracket. That means will likely see some top-level matchups early on in the tournament making this a challenging weight class to predict.
Despite the depth and unpredictability, I’m picking Rei Higuchi to come away with gold from Belgrade. Higuchi will absolutely be tested by Zaur Uguev, Zelimkhan Abakarov, and many other wrestlers in the field but if he’s wrestling his best, he has the most potent offense of any wrestler in the world.
57 kg Medal Predictions:
Gold - Rei Higuchi, JPN
Silver - Zaur Uguev, AIN (Russia)
Bronze - Zelimkhan Abakarov, ALB
Bronze - Arsen Harutyunyan, ARM
Zane Richards' Chance To Qualify The Weight For The Olympics
It’s also worth noting that 57 kg is an Olympic weight class with the top 5 wrestlers in the weight qualifying their countries for the 2024 Olympics. All true 5th matches will take place after the medal ceremonies every night. Zane Richards is absolutely capable of placing in the top 5 and qualifying the weight for the United States but will have to wrestle his best. For as deep as 57 kg is, Richards will likely be in competitive battles from the first round on with no margin for error.