You thought the Olympics were over didn't you? Technically the Paris Games have concluded, however, the four weight classes that weren't wrestled in France last July will be contested in Albania at the end of October. Though billed as World Championships, you might consider them more like the Olympics Part 2. 

And these World Championships, or Second Olympics if you please, will necessitate a World Team Trials, which is exactly what we will get in Omaha, Nebraska, September 14 and 15. 

You can see all the entries here. Notably, Jordan Burroughs will be back on the mat, competing perhaps for the last time on American soil. Also entered is JB's current nemesis, Chance Marsteller, the last person to rep Team USA at 79kg. 

Schedule

Saturday, September 14

10 AM — Session I: Prelims, Quarterfinals, and Consolations

5 PM — Session II: Semifinals and Consolations

Sunday, September 15

10 AM — Session III: Consolations, Consolation Semifinals, 3rd Place and Round 1 best-of-three finals

2 PM — Session IV: Round 2 best-of-three and Round 3 if necessary

Favorites

Chance Marsteller, NJRTC/TMWC

Jordan Burroughs, Pennsylvania RTC

Alex Dieringer, CKWC/TMWC

One important thing to remember for this weight class is there are no returning medalists, thus no one is sitting out in the best 2-of-3 finals, which means everyone has to run the gauntlet to make this world team at 79kg. 

As of Sunday night, there are 15 wrestlers registered to compete, and registration doesn't technically close until weigh-ins, so chances are everyone is going to get at least three matches just to make it to the finals. 

Chief among those registrations will be last year's Final X participants, Chance Marsteller and Jordan Burroughs. These two wrestled three absolute slobberknockers in Newark, NJ which ultimately resulted in Chance winning the series and competing at his first-ever senior world championship at the age of 28. 

2023 was the second consecutive Final X where Marsteller and Burroughs faced off. In 2022 it was Burroughs getting the better of Marsteller two matches to one. JB also beat Chance at the 2021 World Team Trials and the 2022 Yashar Dogu.

If you have 90 minutes to kill, you can watch the entire Burroughs vs Marsteller lifetime series in the video below.

Marsteller also had to overcome severe personal obstacles off the mat between his first meeting with Burroughs at the 2021 Team Trials and 2023's Final X. You'll be able to learn more about that saga when the original film CHANCE is released, though you can watch the trailer here. 

Burroughs only took the mat a few times after that fateful Final X, all back down at his more familiar weight class of 74kg. He won two international tournaments, including his fourth Yashar Dogu title in six trips to the venerable annual tournament in Istanbul, and then competed at the 2024 Olympic Team Trials, where he fell to Jason Nolf in the Challenge Tournament finals. 

Many speculated that we had seen the last of Jordan Burroughs in a senior level competition, but after the conclusion of the Paris Games, Burroughs announced he would return to competition and try and make the 2024 World Team. 

Can’t let you guys have all the fun without me.

See you in Omaha.

📸: @LeviVentura_ pic.twitter.com/U80zisoHVg

— Jordan Burroughs (@alliseeisgold) August 19, 2024

This meant not just a return to competition for Burroughs, but a return to 79kg. 

Unlike Burroughs in 2021 and 2022 or Kyle Dake in 2018 and 2019, Marsteller, was unable to reach the podium, let alone win gold, at 79kg at the 2023 Worlds, losing to the eventual fifth-placer Abbasov of Azerbaijan in the quarterfinals. Before that, Marsteller had a successful 2023 campaign, earning a bronze medal at two UWW Ranking Series tournaments and winning the 2023 US Open. 

Following the 2023 World Championships Marsteller tried his hand at 86kg, placing third at another Ranking Series tournament and then winning titles at the 2024 Pan-Ams and the Grand Prix of Spain. At the Olympic Team Trials, Marsteller would fall to Zahid Valencia on the topside and then Alex Dieringer on the backside.

Speaking of Dieringer, his win over Marsteller at the Trials merits his inclusion in the list of 79 kilo favorites. Dieringer, a Hodge Trophy winner and three-time NCAA champ at Oklahoma State, is still looking to make his first World or Olympic team. The Wisconsin native does have a U20 world silver from 2013 (when it was still called Juniors) and subsequent medals at just about every other tournament you can think of, at 74, 79 and 86 kilos. 

Jordan Burroughs, if you needed reminding, has six world gold medals, three world bronze medals, and an Olympic gold from the 2012 London Games. At 36, he will be the oldest competitor in the bracket, but if anyone can defy the odds of aging, Burroughs would be a good bet. 

Contenders

Keegan O'Toole,  Tiger Style WC/TMWC

David Carr, Cyclone RTC/TMWC

Evan Wick, SoCal RTC/TMWC

Joey Lavallee, Brunson UVRTC/TMWC

Kennedy Monday, NJRTC/ TMWC

A potential third consecutive wrestle-off for the 79-kilogram world team spot between Jordan Burroughs and Chance Marsteller may be hogging the headlines, but neither wrestler, nor fellow favorite Alex Dieringer, should expect an easy path to the finals. 

Two of the next biggest names in the mix are Keegan O'Toole and David Carr. Both are four-time NCAA All-Americans and two-time NCAA champs, though O'Toole still has one more year of eligibility remaining. Both are also U20 World Champs, O'Toole in 2021 and Carr in 2019. O'Toole has a 2023 U23 gold to his name while Carr has a U17 bronze from 2016. 

Now that Keegan and David have wrapped up perhaps the greatest rivalry in NCAA wrestling history, do they now start one of the greatest senior-level rivalries in USA Wrestling history? 

Here's one of several electric matches wrestled between O'Toole and Carr: 

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Other contenders in the bracket include Evan Wick, an All-American at both Wisconsin and Cal Poly. Wick competed at the 2021 Olympic Team Trials at 74kg and the 2024 Olympic Team Trials at 86kg. Despite having a height and armspan greater than most 97kg wrestlers, Wick may be most dangerous at 79. 

Another name is Joey Lavallee, who's been a force to be reckoned with on the senior circuit since graduating from Missouri in 2018. The four-time NCAA qualifier and 2017 NCAA finalist has placed at international freestyle tournaments in the USA, Cuba, France, and Guatemala. He's spent the majority of his post-collegiate career with the Lehigh Valley Wrestling Club before recently taking a position as an assistant coach at Utah Valley as a member of newly minted head coach Adam Hall's regime. 

Finally, Kennedy Monday may not have been the most active wrestler this past Olympic cycle but the three-time NCAA qualifier at North Carolina recently joined his brother Quincy at the NJ-RTC and promptly won the 2024 Grand Prix of Sprain at 79kg, defeating two-time Euro placer Zelimkhan Khadjiev of France and NCAA All-American Lenox Wolak along the way. 

Sleepers and Landmines

Noah Mulvaney, Buffalo Valley Regional Training Center

Demetrius Romero Brunson UVRTC

Not to be overlooked is Bucknell's wiley NCAA qualifier true sophomore Noah Mulvaney, and Utah Valley's All-American by way of Boise State (RIP), Demetrius Romero, who is likely training with Joey Lavallee under the tutelage of another Boise State alum, the aforementioned Adam Hall. 

Watch Mulvaney win a Southern Scuffle title in the video below:

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Predictions

1) Marsteller

2) Burroughs

3) Dieringer

4) O'Toole

There are several major storylines that will come out of this weight class in Omaha. Will Burroughs make one more world team, or will he fall short and potentially retire? Does Dieringer make his first world team or does he once again miss the top of the podium? Can Chance Marsteller make his second world team? If so, does he avenge his loss from 2023?  

As an unbiased journalistic truth-teller, none of these storylines affect my predictions, I'm just saying, if I'm wrong, and say Dieringer beats Marsteller again or Burroughs gets one last title in Nebraska, or O'Toole and Carr jumpstart the youth movement earlier than I thought they would, well, I won't feel sorry for my predictions proving to be incorrect. That's happened before and it'll happen again. 

Instead, I will be happy that the rich tapestry that is American wrestling history will be furthered by some amazing events, regardless of the official results. 

And just what those results will be is something we'll all find out together in Omaha!