Team USA looks for second Pan American Championships men’s freestyle wrestling sweep this week in Acapulco

Tokyo 2020 Olympic medalists will be back on the mat for the Pan American Championships, one of the most important events for wrestlers in the Americas. Competition begins Thursday in Acapulco, Mexico, and continues through Sunday.

A total of 285 athletes from 20 nations – including nine gold medalists from the 2021 event in Guatemala, are scheduled to appear.

Team USA men’s freestyle wrestlers are favored in each weight class.

Kyle Dake, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medalist at 74kg, leads the USA team aiming to defend all 10 men’s freestyle gold medals from last year’s Pan Am Championships. That was an unprecedented feat.

Dake will compete for the first time since winning his third straight world title. Jasmit Phulka of Canada, Franklin Castillo of Cuba and Franklin Gomez of Puerto Rico are also in the draw at 74kg.

Thomas Gilman, a 2020 bronze medalist for Team USA, is the favorite at 57 kg.

Although Olympic champions David Taylor and Gable Steveson of Team USA are not entered in Acapulco, five-time world champion Jordan Burroughs, who did not wrestle in Tokyo, will contest the non-Olympic weight of 79kg. Burroughs, a 2012 Olympic gold medalist, lost to Dake in the 2020 Olympic Trials at 74kg.

Kyle Snyder, the seven-time world champion and 2020 Olympic silver medalist, has already competed twice this season. Snyder, who won Olympic gold in 2016, will wrestle at 97kg while teammate J’den Cox will compete at 92kg, which is not an Olympic weight.

Nicholas Gwiazdowski will step into the heavyweight shoes vacated by Steveson. He is a two-time world bronze medalist, but did not reach the podium at the most recent world championships in Oslo, Norway.

The Pan Am Championships will be good preparation for the USA World Team Trials in early June.

The last time Team USA did not win a gold medal at the Pan Ams was 2001, when Cuba won most of the titles.

In Greco-Roman wrestling, the event marks the return of Ismael Borrero Molina of Cuba, the Rio Olympic champion who was favored to defend his title in Tokyo after securing his second gold medal at worlds. However, after fighting COVID-19 twice, Borrero did not have the strength and conditioning to win a medal at the Olympics. He lost his second bout in Tokyo.

Sarah Hildebrandt, a Tokyo bronze medalist, Jacarra Winchester and Kayla Miracle lead Team USA in its quest to defend its women’s team title.

Hildebrandt, at 50kg, will be challenged by Kamila Barbosa of Brazil and Yoannia Perez of Cuba. The American is wrestling for the first time since winning the silver medal at worlds in Oslo.

At 53kg, Sam Stewart of Canada and Luisa Valverde Melendres of Ecuador are the top contenders. Stewart, who did not qualify for Tokyo, was the 2021 world bronze medalist. Valverde was a quarterfinalist at the Olympics and has won seven Pan Am medals in her career, including gold in 2020. Head-to-head, Valverde leads 2-1.

At 62kg, Ana Godinez Gonzalez of Canada and Miracle of the United States could face off for the gold. In their two previous matches, Miracle won the first 8-0, then barely held on to prevail 6-5 in the second. Miracle was a 2020 Olympian and world silver medalist while Godinez is the U23 world champion.

Justina Di Stasio of Canada is in the hunt for her fifth Pan-Am gold at 76kg, where her top rivals are Milaimys Marin Potrille of Cuba and Tatiana Renteria of Colombia. Six-time world champion Adeline Gray of Team USA and Erica Wiebe of Canada, both veterans, will not compete.

Helen Maroulis, a three-time world champ and 2020 Olympic bronze medalist, had been expected to compete at 57kg, but will be replaced by Cameron Guerin.

Jane Valencia, Mexico’s first female Olympic wrestler and a doctor by profession, will be a favorite for the home crowd at 57kg. “I started my studies in 2009 and finished my career in 2019,” she told United World Wrestling. It’s usually six years from the beginning to the end, but I spent 10 years because I stopped my studies from wrestling twice.” Valencia and her husband, 2012 Olympic silver medalist Jaime Espinal of Puerto Rico, have a daughter named Joy.

The Pan American Championships will serve as a qualifier for the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, Nov. 1-4, 2023. At the Olympic weights only, the top four countries in each style will receive an invitation to the Games.