The Zagreb Open is taking place in, you guessed, Zagreb, Croatia, starting Wednesday morning at 4:00 AM Eastern Time with the 57, 61, 65, 70, 74, and 86kg weight classes. The brackets have just been released and we've got reactions to them!

More Zagreb Content: Schedule | Full Entries | Team USA | Brackets

57 KG

No Thomas Gilman, as was once expected, but Zane Richards is in the 15-man bracket all the way at the bottom. 

Aman from India (competing under the neutral UWW federation code) in the quarterfinals will be a big test for Richards, as Aman beat Richards in the bronze medal match of the 2023 Zagreb Open. If Richards reverses the result at this year's edition he'll likely have Bazarganov of Azerbaijan in the semis. 

On the top side, former Arizona State Sun Devil Brandon Courtney is where the four-seed would be if the tournament was seeded. He'll probably have Horst Lehr of Germany in the quarters, a savvy competitor who is not to be underestimated. Darian Cruz is also on the top side and if he beat Zou of China he'll have Bulgaria's 2020 Olympivan Vangelov. 

61 KG

An unsurprisingly small bracket for a non-Olympic weight class in an Olympic year. Another former Sun Devil and NCAA All-American Michael McGee has a very tough Azerbaijan wrestler, Rzazade, in the first round. Rzazade was a 2023 Euro gold medalist at 57kg. 

The winner of that bout gets the winner of Joey Silva, wrestling for Puerto Rico, and Erdenebat, wrestling for Mongolia. Erdenebat is a 2018 Asian champ. 

Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Ukraine will all be in contention to make the finals from the top side of the bracket. 

65 KG

One of the most intriguing weight classes at the tournament, as is usually the case with 65kg, however no Yianni, as we once thought may have been possible. 

Five Americans -- Realbuto (ITA), Finesilver (ISR), Rivera (PUR), McKenna (USA), and Garrett (USA) are all on the bottom half of the bracket. Tevanyan of Armenia will be the toughest non-American challenger from that half. Rivera and Tavanyan had an instant classic at the 2023 World Championships semifinals, won by Seabass. Three-time age-level world medalist Bayramov could also make a medal run in Zagreb. 

The quarterfinals from the bottom half could be Tevanyan vs McKenna and Seabass vs Nahshon, which would be pretty dang cool. 

Two Iranians are on the top side, Ebrahimzadeh and 2022 World Champ Amouzad. That could serve as a de facto Olympic wrestle-off for the Iranians, although Destribats of Argentina could have something to say about that as well. 

70 KG

Just six entries for 70kg, including Doug Zapf of the Pennsylvania-RTC. Zapf will be challenged by two Georgians, one in his pool and one in the other pool. 

74 KG

No Burroughs in the bracket but Jason Nolf and Quincy Monday are in there on opposite sides, Monday up top and Nolf down below, in would could be the marquee weight class of the tournament. 

2022 U20 world champ Gadzhiev of Azerbaijan will be Monday's toughest competitor in his quarter of the bracket. Two-time wold bronze medalist Emami of Iran will likely emerge from the other quarter but his countryman, Abouzaripash, will be motivated to win both this tournament and a spot on the Iranian Olympic team. 

Nolf will be tested by Ramazanov of Bulgaria by way of Dagestan in the round of 16 and then Kuramagomedov of Hungary by way of Dagestan in the semifinals. 

Khadjiev of France, who was born in Russia but grew up in France along with many other Chechen refugees who are now senior-level wrestlers, is back from a four-year WADA suspension and is in the bottom quarter. Greece's Kougioumtsidis, who is from Greece but has a coach from Dagestan, has Mitch Finesilver, who is from Colorado and wrestled in college at Duke and now competes for Israel and trains at the Cliff Keen Wrestling Club in Michigan, in the first round. 

79 KG

Another six-person weight class split into two pools of three (if anyone drops out they'll go to one pool of five). Wick has Kentchadze in his pool. They wrestled at the Bill Farrell last November at 86kg. Kentchadze won in the wrestle backs 4-4 on criteria. 

Missouri All-American Joey Lavallee will have three-time world medalist Nokhodi from Iran to contend with in his pool. 

86 KG

No David Taylor or Yazdani but this weight class is still very deep. Zahid Valencia has a navigable path to the finals, with his toughest test likely coming in the second round where he'll have the winner of Dauletbekov of Kazakhstan and Punia of India. 

Also on Zahid's side of the bracket is Vafaeipour of Iran, however, if he wins his bout against Switzerland he'd draw Matt Finesilver of Israel by way of Colorado. The Iranian government does not allow their athletes or sports teams to compete against Israeli athletes or teams and thus it's expected that Vafaeipour will either withdraw from the tournament completely, miss weight, or wrestle one match and then medically forfeit. 

The bottom half of the bracket has arguably more intrigue than the top. Chance Marsteller, now up at 86, has Venezuela in the first round and then Osman Nurmagomedov of Azerbaijan by way of Dagestan, a three-time world medalist at 92kg. China's Zuzhen Lin and France's Rakhim Magamadov, a two time U20 world champ, are also in Marsteller's quarter and are not to be underestimated. 

Max Dean is in the bottom quarter of the bracket and has a bye to the round of 16. His toughest challengers will likely be Ramazanov of Bulgaria (the brother to the other Ramazanov of Bulgaria by way of Dagestan who is at 74kg), and Gocen of Turkey. 

92 KG

Just seven competitors for 92kg and three of them are Americans. Nebraska's Eric Schultz and UNI's Taylor Lujan are in one pool with a Ukranian and Maisuradze of Georgia, the most credentialed wrestler in the pool. 

Another younger but still formidable Georgian, Margishvili, will be in the other pool along with Nate Jackson. 

97 KG

The potential biggest matchup of the tournament could happen in the semifinals of 97, as nine-time world and Olympic medalist Kyle Snyder could see Iran's two-time 92kg world gold medalist Kamran Gasempour. 

The other half of the bracket has another quality Iranian, Azarpira, who will have to get by Baran of Poland before seeing Macchiavello of NC State, who now training at the Lehigh Valley Wrestling Club. The winner of that bout will see the winner of Thiele of Germany and Trumble of the USA, the 2023 U23 world champ with two years of eligibility remaining at NC State. 

125 KG

There's more potential Iranian/USA drama at heavyweight. In the top quarter is 10-time world and Olympic medalist Petriashvili of Georgia. In the second quarter are two-time world champ Amir Zare, Zhiwei Deng, Nick Gwiazdowksi, and Christian Lance. Gwiz first has a match with Germany, then a bout with Lance, who has a bye to the round of 16. The winner will have Zare (or Deng) in the quarterfinals, with Petriashvili most likely in the semifinals. 

Mason Parris is in the bottom half with a navigable path to the semifinals, where Iran's four-time age-level champ Amir Masoumi will likely be his opponent. That would make the potential semifinal bouts Petriashvili vs Zare/Gwiz and Parris vs Masoumi. Not bad!