The mighty Russians haven’t had a world or Olympic finalist in this weight range since 2006. For a country that once simultaneously boasted three eventual or past world champions at 84 kg in the early 2000s (A. Saitiev, Sajidov and Gatsalov) eight years without a gold or silver is an eternity.
The drought should end this year. Though Russia’s entry at 86 kg has never represented Russia at a world-level championship, Abdul Sadulaev has dominated so thoroughly in 2014 that I have a hard time imagining him losing at all.
Sadulaev enters this tournament as the top ranked wrestler in the world, the champion at both the ultra-tough Ivan Yarygin Memorial and Russian Nationals, as well of a number of other notable international tournaments.
With Uzbekistan’s defending world champion Ibragim Aldatov off the entry list, the only wrestlers I see with a chance to beat Sadulaev are Cuba’s multi-time world medalist Reine Salas and the USA’s Ed Ruth. Salas is an incredible talent, and has all the tools to beat anyone in the world, particularly if he runs into them outside the gold medal match.
Iran claims an embarrassing wealth of talent at this weight. In the past few years, Olympic and world medalist Ehsan Lashgari has represented this weight for the Islamic Republic. Meisam Joukar, the current number four ranked wrestler in the world also hails from Iran, and Alireza Karimimachiani just looked incredible at the Junior World Championships, and could be a serious gold medal threat in Rio. Confusingly, it looks as if none of these three stars will compete this week. The wrestler at the top of Iran’s entry list at 86 kg is Mohammadhossein Mohammadian, who, frankly, isn’t that good by Iranian National Team standards.
Update: A Mostafajoukar (one word) does appear as the third name at this weight on Iran’s entry form. I’m guessing this is Meisam Joukar, and I’ll go out on a limb and speculate that he will be the wrestler in an Iranian singlet at 86 kg this week. If this is the case, Iran will have a potential finalist at this weight.
Other notable names at this weight include Taymuraz Friev of Spain (via Russia), Rashid Kurbanov of Uzbekistan and Istan Vereb of Hungary. I don’t expect any of these to win gold, but other medals are definitely a possibility.
My pick to win it: Abdul Sadulaev
Dark Horse from an unexpected country: Alex Dolly
Only one wrestler representing the Republic of Ireland has ever placed in the top ten at a Freestyle World Wrestling Championships, and he has returned in 2014 to improve on his performance. Alex Dolly finished ninth in the 2011 World Championships, and though he failed to qualify for the 2012 Olympics, he hasn’t given up and has had a promising 2014, finishing fifth in the European Championships.
Yes, Dolly is actually from Indiana, wrestled collegiately at Northern Iowa and lives in Michigan, but Irish sports fans looking for a reason to watch this year’s World Championships should cheer him on.
The American representative: Ed “The Truth” Ruth
I can’t be 100 percent certain, but I’m fairly confident that Ed Ruth is two things:
1. The most talented American wrestler I’ve ever seen.
And
2. A bit of a weirdo.
Ruth is an absolutely freakish talent; he wrestles like an eagle flies. For him, the process of stepping onto a mat and completely controlling his opponent in hand to hand combat appears effortless and natural, as if he was born knowing how to do it.
Often, and even against incredibly skilled wrestlers, it looks as if Ruth can score points whenever he decides to. When he attempts his signature misdirection leg attacks, he seems to glide past his adversary’s defense with the greatest of ease, and finish quickly and cleanly. Ed is so spectacularly gifted, that if he wrestles at anywhere near his full potential in Tashkent, he will walk away as a world champion.
This leads me to my second point: I think Ed is just a bit out to lunch. Ruth came to Penn State University as a wrestling signee of coach Troy Sunderland. When Cael Sanderson, Olympic gold medalist and the greatest college wrestler ever, took over for Sunderland as the Penn State’s coach, Ruth supposedly had no clue who Sanderson was, other then some guy who would badly beat him in the practice room.
This past season, after Ruth won his third NCAA Championship in Oklahoma City, nine of the ten national champions gathered to take the customary champion’s photo. The photographer had to wait for a good while to take the picture, however, because Ruth had already left the arena. Eventually tournament organizers figured out where Ruth went and sent a car to pick him up.
I sometimes wonder that if Ruth’s apparent and constant nonchalance is a product of the fact that he’s not fully in tune to what is happening around him. I also wonder if this lack of awareness leads to some of the head scratching losses he suffers in freestyle from time to time.
Still, Ruth always saved his best wrestling for his most important matches. When it came time for NCAA championships, or this year’s World Team Trials, Ruth brought his ‘A’ game. This bodes well for him at this World Championships, where I predict he earns a bronze medal.