Tokyo 2020 champion David Taylor (+86kg) had been unbeaten since the 2021 World Championships final, when he lost to Iran’s Hassan Yazdani. Taylor had only lost once since the 2017 US World Team Trials, when he lost twice to two-time world champion and Rio 2016 bronze medallist J’Den Cox, and it was the same loss to Yazdani. Since 2017, Taylor has won gold medals at the Olympics and three World Championships, as well as a silver medal at the World Championships.
At the 2023 World Championships, Taylor defeated Yazdani for the fourth time in his career to become world champion and secure the USA’s place at Paris 2024. But now Taylor is likely to miss the Olympics after being upset by 23-year-old rising star Aaron Brooks from Maryland.
Brooks, who won the 2023 U23 World Championships, defeated 2023 World bronze medallist Zahid Valencia in a close bout to earn the right to wrestle Taylor in the National Trials final. Taylor, as a world medallist, was exempt from the elimination round.
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In the best-of-three final, Brooks defeated Taylor twice to earn his place on the National Olympic Team and prepare to represent the USA at Paris 2024.
Other medallists from 2023 World Championships in freestyle wrestling, who earned Olympic berths for USA, Kyle Dake (74 kg), Kyle Sneyder (97 kg) and Mason Parris (125 kg), managed to pin their places at the National Olympic team.
Spencer Lee stunned Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Thomas Gilman in the 57kg final. Reigning 70kg world champion Zain Retherford defeated Nicklas Lee in the 65kg final. The USA has no Olympic berths in these two categories, so Lee and Retherford will have to fight for them at the World Qualifiers in Istanbul in May.
In women’s wrestling, Tokyo 2020 runner-up, six-time world champion and 2023 World bronze medallist Adeline Gray lost to Kennedy Blades in the final of the 76kg category. Other star names such as Amit Elor (68kg), Helen Maroulis (57kg), Sarah Hildebrandt (50kg), Kayla Miracle (62kg) and Dominique Parrish (53kg) all won their final bouts to earn a place on the Olympic team.
