Who's Sitting In Final X?
Who's Sitting In Final X?
An early look at the wrestlers for Team USA who have an automatic bye to 2022 Final X
Final X is USA Wrestling's last step in the process to determine the 2022 World Team. Those events will go down the first week of June in Stillwater (June 3) and New York City (June 8) and will consist of America's top 2 wrestlers at each weight competing in a best of 3 series to earn the world team spot. Because USA Wrestling gives an advantage to last year's world medalists, 16 wrestlers are eligible to skip the World Team Trials and receive a bye to Final X. Each wrestler will have to declare their intention to accept this bid to Final X by May 4 but in this article, we take a look at each wrestler eligible to accept that bid and their likelihood to do so.
Likely To Accept
This group of wrestlers, the largest, are those who have been actively competing at their respective weight classes this year or those who have been vocal about their intention to compete at Final X. This group includes 11 wrestlers who medaled at last year's world championships including 3 gold medalists, 5 silver medalists, and 3 bronze medalists. Take a look at this group below:
61kg - Daton Fix, June 3-Stillwater
Fix won silver at the world championships in Oslo where he also earned his bid to Final X in Stillwater on June 3. After his breakout performance at last year’s worlds, expect to see Fix continue to compete at 61kg until the next Olympic Games where he'll have to choose between going down to 57kg or up to 65kg.
74kg - Kyle Dake, June 8-New York
Dake followed up his bronze medal at the Olympics with his third world title last October. Dake will likely participate in Final X New York on June 8th. Shortly after the announcement of Final X in New York on June 8, Dake posted on his Instagram that he intends on showing up.
Kyel Dake's win in the 2021 world finals:
79kg - Jordan Burroughs, June 8-New York
Jordan Burroughs won his fifth world title last year after moving up to 79kg. Burroughs has gone on record stating he’ll continue to compete up in weight until 2024 when he plans on dropping back down to 74kg for the Paris Olympics. Burroughs most recent competition was in February at the first ranking series tournament of the year - the 2022 Yasar Dogu, where he took home gold. Check out his win in the finals over Chance Marsteller there:
86kg - David Taylor, June 8-New York
David Taylor won an Olympic gold medal last year with a dramatic win over Iran’s Hassan Yazdani. However, Yazdani got revenge on Taylor in the finals of 2021 worlds. Since that loss, Taylor has yet to wrestle and hasn’t yet announced his next competition. While he hasn't competed, Taylor was recently on the podcast "Wrestling Changed My Life" and confirmed that he will be competing through the 2024 Paris Olympics.
97kg - Kyle Snyder, June 3-Stillwater
Kyle Snyder has owned 97kg in the United States since he won his first world title all the way back in 2015 and doesn’t look to be slowing down anytime soon. He recently took out J’den Cox at Rudis’ Super Match event in two straight matches. Expect him to accept his bid for this year’s Final X in Stillwater.
97kg - G’Angelo Hancock, June 8-New York
G’Angelo Hancock ended a 3-year medal drought for the United States in Greco last year with his bronze at the 2021 World Championships. At only 24 years old, Hancock should control the 97kg spot for the USA for years to come and challenge for medals on the world stage for the foreseeable future.
Hear from G'Angelo Hancock after winning world bronze:
50kg - Sarah Hildebrandt, June 8-New York
Hildebrandt won an Olympic bronze medal in Tokyo last year and followed that up with a world silver in Oslo. Her cut to 50kg is noticeably significant and she has only wrestled once since the world championships - at 53kg. Though the cut down to 50kg is a big one for Hildebrandt, she confirmed after her Super Match that she plans on competing back down at Pan-Ams in May.
Hildebrandt shares her intention to head back down to 50kg:
55kg - Jenna Burkert, June 3- Stillwater
Jenna Burkert fell just short at the Olympic Trials last year but found redemption at the world championships when she won bronze. On top of that, Burkert made the team by defeating 2019 world champion Jacarra Winchester at the world team trials. Look for Burkert to return to 55kg in Stillwater to defend her spot on the world team.
Watch the incredible story of adversity Jenna Burkert battled through in 2021:
57kg - Helen Maroulis, June 8-New York
Helen Maroulis is back on top of the world after winning her third world title in Oslo last October. Maroulis has also been one of the few returning women’s medalists who have competed since the world championships. Maroulis was first back in action in January at the 2022 Yarygin where she took home gold with four, dominant wins.
62kg - Kayla Miracle, June 8-New York
Kayla Miracle won her first senior world medal last year when she took home a silver medal from Oslo, Norway in October of 2021. Since worlds, Miracle has only competed at the Bout At The Ballpark in 2022 and the Rudis Super Match event where she was victorious in both - defeating Ana Godinez at the Bout At The Ballpark and Emma Bruntil at the Super Match. Also at that event, Miracle shared with us her competition plan moving forward which included both the Pan-Ams in May and Final X in June. You can watch that interview below:
65kg - Forrest Molinari, June 3-Stillwater
Forrest Molinari has been one of the most active senior-level wrestlers for the United States regardless of style. Molinari won a silver medal at the Yarygin in January followed by a gold at the Yasar Dogu in February. Following her bronze medal at last year's world championships, her success this year shows she is ready to challenge for another medal at this year's world championships in Serbia.
Question Marks
This group of wrestlers has not competed in their respective weight classes (or at all) since last year's world championships. Because of their lack of competition, and their silence on plans moving forward, there remains some question on whether or not Thomas Gilman, J'den Cox, and Tamyra Mensah-Stock will accept their bids to Final X in 2022.
57kg - Thomas Gilman, June 3-Stillwater
Thomas Gilman had his best senior level performances in 2021 when he won a bronze medal at the Olympics in August and gold at the world championships in October. Despite that success in 2021, Gilman has yet to wrestle in 2022 and notably dealt with a serious foot injury last year. At this point, everything is speculation but Gilman's lack of competition should give us a little pause in projecting his participation in this year's Final X.
Hear from Thomas Gilman following his bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics:
92kg - J’den Cox, June 3-Stillwater
As a 2-time world champion and 5-time medalist, J’den Cox is almost a lock to wrestle at Final X - the question is at what weight will he wrestle? Cox tested the waters at 97kg against Kyle Snyder at Rudis’ Super Match in Detroit but dropped two straight matches - 5-5 and 7-1. Despite those losses, and Cox’s ability to sit in Final X at 92kg, J’den stated there’s still a possibility he goes up to 97kg this year.
68kg - Tamyra Mensah-Stock, June 3-Stillwater
Tamyra Mensah-Stock won only the second gold medal for Team USA women’s wrestling team but took a disappointing loss at the 2021 World championships to finish bronze. Since that loss, Mensah-Stock hasn’t wrestled a match in any competition. Because of that layoff, there’s still a chance Mensah-Stock does not compete this year after a busy 2021.
Least Likely/Almost Impossible
The good news - this category is the smallest of the three, only containing two wrestlers who will probably not wrestle at this year's Final X or world championships. The bad news, the wrestlers in this category are two of Team USA's strongest in Adeline Gray and Gable Steveson.
76kg - Adeline Gray, June 3-Stillwater
Though Adeline Gray won her 6th world title last year, she recently announced her first pregnancy. Out of any of the athletes, Gray has the best excuse for missing this year’s Final X. Will Gray continue after 2022? That's the real question but if anyone can come back and still wrestle at a world-class level, it's Adeline Gray.
125kg - Gable Steveson, June 8-New York
Gable Steveson left his shoes on the mat after winning his second NCAA title last month in Detroit - two weeks later, Steveson was on the big stage at WWE’s Wrestle Mania event. Steveson has stated that he’s done (for now) but is still eligible to compete at Final X.
Again, the above athletes must officially declare their intention to wrestle at Final X by May 4. We'll continue to keep you posted as the athletes/USA Wrestling release their official decisions.