It has been seven years since Pat Downey made the Junior world finals, and now he gets his first crack at a senior level medal.

The absence of David Taylor from the 2019 world championships is impossible to ignore. It impacted the team race between Russia and the United States, as well as the landscape of 86kg domestically. It will now be up to Downey to wrestle for a medal and qualify this weight for the Olympics next year for Team USA.

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Downey has never before made the national team, let alone represent the United States at worlds. He hadn’t so much as been to a continental before donning the red, white, and blue for the Pan Am Games last month. But he is not green, he is not new to international wrestling, and he does not lack experience against foreign competition.

Three of last year’s world medalists return, with all eyes on the Iranian phenom Hassan Yazdanicharati. With Taylor out, he’s the favorite heading into Kazakhstan, as his only losses since moving up to 86kg are against DT. The other returning world medalists are Fatih Erdin of Turkey, and Taimuraz Friev, a former Russian now competing for Spain. Another former Russian is returning 2017 silver medalist Boris Makoev, now wrestling for Slovakia.

The American: Pat Downey

We’ve seen several different iterations of Pat Downey. Funky bunky. The unattached assassin. Mullethawk. But they are all different forward facing representations of the same person: James Patrick Downey III, an enigmatic and talented individual who has been yearning for his opportunity to show the world what he can do.

He’s always had a different style than what most US wrestlers employ. In a country dominated by leg attackers, he’s always felt most comfortable going upper body, dropping in an overhook, and throwing guys instead of shooting on them. Maybe the two best examples of that this year were his Dave Schultz semi against Brett Pfarr, won on a Randy Lewis-esque throw off one leg, and his U.S. Open final lat drop where he put Nick Heflin on his head off of Heflin's inside trip attempt.

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So while that makes him extremely dangerous on paper, it has translated into results this year against foreigners. He is 3-5 in matches against non-Americans since last September, with his only three wins coming against Pan Am opponents, and three of the losses against non-starters that won’t be in Nur-Sultan.

Now this doesn’t mean he can’t do well at worlds. The whole point of going overseas, especially after the team has been finalized, is to get reps, get film, and allow Team USA head coach Bill Zadick, NJRTC coach Reece Humphrey, and the rest of the staff help him make adjustments and hone in on the areas he needs to work on and positions he will be exposed to this month. We'll see if Downey can execute on Saturday, September 21st.

Top Four Seeds

Erdin was also the one seed last year, and no one has been more active in competing at the Ranking Series events the past two years. Makoev was the guy who beat J'den Cox in the 2017 world semis. Yazdanicharati is the only guy to medal at this weight each of the past two years. Deepak Punia was your Junior world champ this year and 2016 Cadet champ.

Breaking Down The Field

Even if you know nothing about the guys in this bracket, from looking at our 86kg rankings you'd think it was likely to be dominated by Iran and Russia. It all of course depends on how the draws fall, but it's hard not see a Yazdanicharati/Naifonov final if they are on opposite sides.

Folkstyle fans will love the grinding, underhooking, nonstop pressure of the Iranian. Very simply he has the pace of a 74kg in a full-sized 86kg body. He's only competed once this year (aside from Iranian Trials), buzzsawing his way through six opponents at the Dan Kolov to the tune of 69-6.

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Right behind him is #2 Artur Naifonov. This quad for Russia, there have been three main guys at 86kg: Vladislav Valiev, Dauren Kurugliev, and Naifonov, so it is only right each got their chance at worlds. Valiev won bronze, albeit not without controversy if you remember his match with South Korea. Kurugliev was fifth, but may have been the third best guy in the world as he lost to Taylor and Yazdanicharati. Naifonov was Junior world champ in 2017 (beating Zahid in the finals), Euro champ and U23 world silver last year, and has won both the Ali Aliev and Ziolkowski this year.

The next highest ranked guy is #6 Ali Shabanau (BLR), who you might remember got cautioned out against Jordan Burroughs in the 2013 semis. JB also wrestled him at the 2013 World Cup and the first round of the 2017 world championships, but he is now up at 86. This year he was bronze at the European championships and silver at Euro Games. He was also runner-up to Yazdanicharati at the Kolov as you can see above, and even though he got teched did expose a possible weakness in the Iranian. Watch him score from a switch like position at the 1:50 and 5:20 marks of their match.

Coming in at #7 is Piotr Ianulov, who has wrestled for Moldova at nearly every world championships since 2007. The past two years, he has lost to #11 Zbigniew Baranowski (POL), Yazdanicharati, and #12 Aleksandr Gostiyev (AZE) at worlds, all of whom are in the field once again. He was runner-up at the European championships, beating Budapest runner-up Fatih Erdin (TUR) in the semis. You can watch the match below.

Erdin, who is ranked #8, replaced Selim Yasar for Turkey last year. As the one seed, we know he'll be on the top half, a huge advantage when there are slated to be 45 guys in the field. That means there will be 16 up top and 29 down below, greatly lessening the likelihood Erdin has to face any top flight competition. While Erdin has only won one event he's entered the past two years, he's wrestled six times in 2019 and should qualify Turkey for the Olympics.

Last year, Japan had a world medalist above 80kg for the first time since 1970. This year, that responsibility will chiefly fall upon #9 Sosuke Takatani, a 2014 world silver down at 74kg. Also still competing is 2012 Olympic silver Jamie Espinal of Puerto Rico.

Michigan standout Myles Amine is ranked 10th coming into worlds, and has no bad losses on his resume. He'll be randomly drawn in, but is a legitimate threat to qualify San Marino for Tokyo, especially if he winds up on the top side. Fellow Wolverine Domenic Abouander will be competing for Lebanon.

Junior world champ Deepak Punia (IND) is the four seed, meaning he is at the very bottom of the top half of the bracket, which is a huge advantage as it pertains to qualifying. There are 45 entries at this weight, meaning 16 wrestlers at the top and 29 down below.

Punia fell victim to #12 Aleksandr Gostiyev (AZE) in the Dogu finals. The Azeri, who has three European silvers to his name, had an excellent run in Istanbul, beating Murad Suleymanov, Selim Yasar, and Makoev as well.

The Contenders

#1 Hassan Yazdanicharati, Iran

• 2018 World Bronze
• 2018 Asian Games Champ
• 2017 World Chmap
• 2016 Olympic Champ
• 2015 World Silver

#2 Artur Naifononv, Russia

• 2019 Ziolkowski Champ
• 2019 Ali Aliev Champ
• 2018 U23 World Silver
• 2018 European Champ
• 2017 Junior World Champ

#6 Ali Shabanu, Belarus

• 2019 Euro Games Silver
• 2019 European Bronze
• 2018 World Bronze
• 2017 World Bronze

#8 Fatih Erdin, Turkey

• 2019 Ziolkowski Bronze
• 2019 European Bronze
• 2019 Yarygin Silver
• 2018 World Silver
• 2018 Yarygin Silver

#12 Aleksandr Gostiyev, Azerbaijan

• 2019 Yasar Dogu Champ
• 2018 European Silver
• 2017 European Silver
• 2016 European Silver

#20 Yurieski Torreblanca Queralta, Cuba

• 2019 Pan Am Games Champ
• 2019 Cerro Pelado Champ
• 2018 Pan Am Silver
• 2017 Pan Am Champ
• 2015 Pan Am Champ