As soon as I heard the 2019 World Championships were being held in Kazakhstan, I Googled "Astana." What I read was encouraging: a modern city full of infrastructure with a clearly conscious effort to accommodate visitors and, in particular, the English-speaking.

It was pleasant, if unexpected, information. Optimism. But still, I couldn't shake the experience of 2014 Worlds in Uzbekistan, their neighbor to the south, where it was difficult to communicate and commute which led to so many delays and detours.

By the time we were ready to go to Kazakhstan, Astana had changed its name to Nur-Sultan but thankfully all I read about the city remained true. The city was beautiful. It was a snap to get around in. The people were happy, friendly, and accommodating — all which makes for such a relief when the job at hand is 10-day comprehensive coverage of the most important tournament on the planet. It's exhausting and the difference between looking forward to getting out of the arena, and being fearful of it, made all the difference.

Wrestling is the greatest sport in the world, but the education that comes with traveling abroad is an invaluable cultural experience that transcends sports. And that experience is accentuated when there aren't hassles and delays.

The pleasant experience wasn't just outside the arena, but inside also. 2019 Worlds was the best-run, most hospitable World Championships I've been to. (It was my fourth senior worlds and my eighth of any age level.) I can only credit this to the continuing progress of UWW; their planning and commitment to both the visible and behind-the-scenes experience of all parties — and, most likely, their revamped bidding process that demands the host nation and local organizing committee — is fully committed and on top of all details.

You couldn't have been at the World Championships in Nur-Sultan and not given UWW a thumbs up.

That said, there is always room for improvement. While the ratio of good to bad was certainly in the positive, below are my pros and cons from the 2019 World Championships.

A Global Sport

Pro - Parity In Olympic Qualifiers by Nations

Outside of Russia, who qualified five of six Olympic weights in men's freestyle, no nation was dominant. Kazakhstan (four) — yeah, we'll get to that in a second — and India (three) were the only other nations to bat at least .500. What it means is that the list of nations that have qualified for the Olympics is more diverse and that more nations are developing top talent. That's a great thing for the sport.

It will also result in more importance (and more eyes) on the Continental and Last Chance Olympic Qualifying Tournaments. When traditional world powers Azerbaijan (one), Georgia (two), Turkey (two), Iran (two), and the United States (two) are struggling to qualify, it means the rest of the world is in good shape and will be represented at the Olympics. It also means they have to send their guys to future qualifying tournaments. I mean, Haji Aliyev and Vladimer Khinchegashvili aren't qualified!

For the complete breakdown of who's in and who's out, check this table.

Con - Lack of Parity in Olympic Qualifiers by Continentals

Although there is a large number of nations qualified, that figure comes from more nations in just two Continentals. Not one wrestler in men's freestyle qualified from an African nation and just three wrestlers from two Pan American countries did. Columbia (one) and the United States (two) combined for just three qualifiers from the Western Hemisphere. That's exacerbated by Cuba qualifying none. Wrestling is making progress on a global scale, but we must remember that developing National Governing Bodies, clubs, and facilities in Africa and South America continues to be an area that should be given plenty of resources and emphasis.

Qualifiers By Continental (MFS)

Euro (18 countries), Asia (12 countries), Pan Am (two countries), Africa/Oceania (zero countries).

To that point, Nigeria, who qualified just one (Adekuoroye) in women's freestyle, is on the up-and-up. I believe in the future their WFS team will regularly produce medal threats as their young program is clearly pointing in the right direction.

Whether it's in Greco, MFS, or WFS, we need more emerging programs that show the promise that Nigeria's WFS does.

The Brackets

Pro - Seeding

UWW is doing everything they can do. That the top four are now seeded provides a structure to, in general and in theory, separate top talent and get the best quarterfinalists and wrestlers that reach repechage.

For all the whining about unbalanced brackets and the draw process (read below), the major collisions were separated and avoided. Burroughs, Sidakov, and Chamizo met only as late as possible. Sadulaev and Snyder (which didn't come to pass) were opposite. Akgul and Geno were. David Taylor and Charati would have been.

To make it even better going forward: now it's time for wrestlers and NGBs to do their part. Go. (Clap). To. (Clap). Rankings. (Clap). Events. (Clap).

And after this year — which was really the first to show what happens when you do/don't have seeding points — I believe we'll see a significant boost in top talent seeking separation and competing in rankings series events which will not only produce better brackets, but in doing so, make the rankings tournaments a spectacle and create more of a season on the global level.

Con - Unbalanced Brackets

I've always been unenthused about supporting the move to unbalanced brackets. On the surface, it's simply just one more bout. And the fact of the matter is some of the guys HAVE TO wrestle one more bout wherever they are.

But, man. Now we're close. In conjunction with a viable seeding/ranking system that's only going to get better, we're so close to having ideal brackets.

Beyond just being "one more match," the true problem lies in the sheer numbers (and by extension, talent) that resides in the bottom bracket. It looks ridiculous and the solution is so simple. Put an equitable number of guys in each bracket. UWW (and myself) used to say "that's the way the cookie crumbles" to bad random draws. But now the power is in the hands of the athlete by performing well at Worlds, rankings events, and continentals.

So while seeds are in the hands of the athletes, the right move of going to balanced brackets is in the hands of UWW. There's no reason to say, "That's the way the cookie crumbles." It's a simple fix.

Promotion & Presentation

Pro - Ran & Promoted As Well As Ever

While the tournament running smoothly is not a new development, it should be noted that it continues to run like a well-oiled machine. You know what's coming up. (And how easily we forget that we love the brackets being drawn a day in advance to increase our anticipation.) The live bout boards, inside and outside, are a fine and necessary touch. But whereas presentation has been a strong suit for a while now, it seemed to me that greater efforts in promotion were made. From the outside advertising, the promos on digital billboards around the city, and the Fan Fest outside the arena, UWW made improvements in the host city. It's impossible for me to tell what the effects were, but the attendance was strong and the crowd was really into it.

Con - Time Suck

The worst part of Worlds — by a mile — is the length of time each day lasts. Something has to change.

And before you think I'm positing this as a cranky, tired journalist, I'm looking at it from not just my perspective, but from the consecutive days of responsibilities of not only media but the coaches, athletes, administrators, officials, fans, and volunteers as well. To "work" Worlds is demanding. Worse yet: to WATCH Worlds takes commitment.

The tournament starts at 11 AM. When the brackets are small or there are only three weights that day, there will be a short break that leaves not much time to do anything before coming back. Then there is another short session of semis. Then another short break that leaves not much time to do anything before coming back for finals and medals. Then, when you do come back for finals and medals, you're looking at three matches per weight at four weights (most days).

Start at 10 AM. Wrestle both semis simultaneously. Wrestle both bronze bouts simultaneously. Do other things I might be failing to think of. Anything to make fans feel like attending Worlds (or watching from abroad) is more an avocation and less a marriage.

Team USA

American Pro - Team Bronze & Optimism

I've said for years that most American fans are overly optimistic about our chances at Worlds. Yeah, sure, even I get sucked in at times. We know them. We love them. We're in awe of their abilities. But Worlds are hard. To reach a medal match you not only have to be good, you have to avoid costly mistakes, and you have to win in very key situations.

Sure we didn't max out like we did in 2017. Thinking we can is one thing. Being disappointed when we don't is another. Shit happens. Shit will happen. Aside from my next topic, I think we showed well. I think we're good — good enough to win an OLY medal at every weight. I think we're tough. I think we're talented. And I think we're in good shape for Tokyo.

American Con - Closing Out Matches

Separate from opponents, guys. Separate.

Five wrestlers — the first five, half our team — lost matches where the determining sequence came in the final seconds. Three of them had leads: Daton and James tried to milk leads and Jordan gave up a push-out.

If there was one overarching sentence to the difference between winning and losing matches for Team USA, it was closing out matches. It was the difference, from my purview, in being the hunter vs the hunted. Continue to attack. Continue to score. Stay in there and fight. Heck, take a shot and get in on a leg even if it's just to cause a stalemate and eat up clock.

The good news is that we were probably better in many of those matches. It will be addressed. It will be figured out. Part of me thinks it was a good thing all this happened in 2019. I can't imagine it is reprised in Tokyo. We won't milk leads. We won't go on the defensive. We better not, anyway.

Greco

Pro - Early Greco Action Was Up

From the prelims and into some quarters, Greco scoring seemed to be up. The action was high. It was entertaining, a much more enjoyable product than in the recent past where scoring (and activity) was at a premium.

Con - Late Greco Action = Same Old Story

Nomad is going to run the numbers this week. But as entertaining as Greco was early, it seemed to ebb as the brackets moved on. I was watching one particular set of quarters where there was one, yes one, offensive point at the weight class. Four matches. One point offensive point — a pushout. Next year at the Olympics with 16-man brackets, everyone is going to be good. If it's full of this type of action, it's going to be the forced par terre snooze fest Rio was.

The Next Generation of Stars

Pro - Age Level Medals

Another topic Nomad said he's going to do a deep dive in: We are now at an age where Cadet Worlds has been back in effect long enough to pull data from age-level medal performances and find a correlation to senior-level results. In men's freestyle this year, seven of the 10 champions medaled at either Cadet or Junior Worlds (many of them both). Six of the 10 champions won Cadet or Junior Worlds. Those are compelling numbers.

2019 SR World Champs that Medaled at CD/JR Worlds

Uguev, Rashidov, Baev, Sidakov, Charati, Sadulaev, Petriashvili

2019 SR World Champs that Won CD/JR Worlds

Uguev, Rashidov, Baev, Charati, Sadulaev, Petriashvili

Beyond age-level success being a precursor for Senior level success, the good performances and results also give the media and fans ammo and context to build stars and expectations. We see that in the U.S. all the time and particularly its effect in the last decade or so. Because you know Yianni's and Daton's success at Fargo, or Super 32, or Akron, you know them, you identify them, and you have expectations for them in the college season, at NCAAs and at the Senior level.

In this way, following Cadet and Junior Worlds give us expectations for David Carr, or Mekhi Lewis, or Gadzhiyev (AZE), or Baev (RUS). The ability for UWW and outside media to market and build stars off Cadet and Junior results adds texture to SR level coverage much the same way the NFL draft produces NFL stars immediately in guys like Baker Mayfield or Jalen Ramsey.