#WrestleBudapest

Russia Relying on Three Olympic Champs for Tokyo Berths  

Thursday, March 11, 2021 - 21:12 By Eric Olanowski

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BUDAPEST, Hungary (March 11) --- The Russian Federation will rely heavily on Olympic champions Roman VLASOV (RUS), Davit CHAKVETADZE (RUS) and Natalia VOROBEVA (RUS) to earn berths to the Tokyo Olympic Games through next week’s European Olympic Qualifier (March 18-21).  

They’ll need a top-two finish to punch their nation’s ticket to this summer’s Games.

Greco-Roman stars Vlasov and Chakvetadze will compete at 77kg and 87kg, respectively, while Vorobieva will wrestle in arguably the deepest women’s wrestling weight, 76kg.  

Vlasov, already a two-time Olympic champion, is on a mission to become wrestling's fourth Greco-Roman three-time Olympic gold medalist. He’d join a shortlist of three-timers, including fellow Novosibirsk native Aleksandr KARELIN (RUS), along with Mijain LOPEZ (CUB) and Carl WESTERGREN (SWE).

The European Olympic Qualifiers will be Vlasov’s second attempt at earning an Olympic bid. He came up shy of a top-eight finish at the ’19 World Championships. Vlasov dropped his second-round bout to Askhat DILMUKHAMEDOV (KAZ), 3-0, and finished in eighth place.

Since that uncharacteristic loss at the World Championships, "Air Vlasov" returned to his winning ways. He nabbed gold at the Individual World Cup with five wins -- including a one-point victory against fellow world champion and longtime rival, Viktor NEMES (SRB).

Chakvetadze, the Rio Olympic gold medalist, is replacing Russia’s world and European representative Aleksandr KOMAROV (RUS) at 87kg. Komarov needed a top-six finish at the ’19 World Championships to qualify Russia for the Olympics but dropped his second-round match to Rustam ASSAKALOV (UZB) and finished in 11th place. 

Chakvetadze received the nod over Komarov for a second straight completion. His last outing came at the '20 Individual World Cup in late December, where he finished in second place. During his run to the Belgrade finals, the Olympic champion looked in top-shape en route to wins over continental champion Semen NOVIKOV (UKR) and Hossein Ahmad NOURI (IRI) before running into the buzzsaw Kiryl MASKEVICH (BLR).

London gold medalist and Rio silver-medal winner Vorobeva is the reigning world and European champion at the non-Olympic weight of 72kg. She’s moving up to 76kg with hopes of becoming the first non-Japanese woman ever to win a pair of Olympic gold medals. 

Vorobieva is replacing Rio Olympic bronze medalist Ekaterina BUKINA (RUS) at 76kg. Bukina lost to Epp MAE (EST) in the first round at the ’19 World Championships and left Nur-Sultan with a disappointing 17th-place finish.

The Olympic Qualifier will be Vorobeva's first tournament up at the Olympic weight in 14 months. In her last outing at 76kg, she went 3-1 and claimed a Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series bronze medal. Vorobeva tallied her biggest win of the competition in the quarterfinals against '19 world bronze medalist Epp MAEE (EST), 11-2.

Wrestling begins on Thursday, March 18, and can be followed live on www.unitedworldwrestling.org. 

#WrestleZagreb

Zagreb Open Flashback: Iran, U.S. opened season with success

Monday, January 19, 2026 - 10:21 By Vinay Siwach

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ZAGREB, Croatia (January 18) -- United World Wrestling's 2026 season will kick off with the Ranking Series in Zagreb February 4. The recent memories of Zagreb may be the September World Championships but the 2025 season also kicked off with the Ranking Series in the Croatian capital.

Iran and the United States had strong performances in the first of the four stops of the Ranking Series, a theme which continued throughout the 2025 season as the U.S. dominated Freestyle while Iran dominated Greco-Roman.

Women's Wrestling participants were less in numbers but still saw U.S. and UWW wrestlers share gold medals.

Here's a trip down memory lane of the 2025 Zagreb Open Ranking Series before the 2026 season kicks off:

WATCH ZAGREB OPEN 2025 TOP BOUTS HERE

Freestyle

A young Iranian team snapped four gold medals in Zagreb with Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) winning gold at 61kg, Abbas EBRAHIM (IRI) winning at 65kg, Amirhossein FIROUZPOUR (IRI) became champion at 92kg and Amirreza MASOUMI (IRI) winning the 125kg gold.

For the U.S., Spencer LEE (USA) kicked off the season with 57kg with gold, Zahid VALENCIA (USA) won at 86kg and Kyle SNYDER (USA) at 97kg. Both Valencia and Snyder went on to win gold at the World Championships later in the season.

Azerbaijan, Slovakia and France won one gold each, with Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE) winning at 70kg for Azerbaijan, Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) winning gold at 74kg, and Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA) winning at 79kg for France.

Iran dominance began when Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) won gold at 61kg, beating the likes of Nuraddin NUVROZOV (AZE), Nashon GARRETT (USA), Giorgi GONIASHVILI (GEO) and Ebrahim KHARI (IRI). Javan would later win a silver medal at the World Championships. At 65kg, Ebrahim held his own in a thrilling final against Joseph MCKENNA (USA) to grab the second gold for Iran.

Young superstars Firouzpour and Masoumi put up a show to win gold medals at 92kg and 125kg respectively.

Lee was making a returning to competition six months after winning the silver medal at the Paris Olympics. He won the Zagreb Open gold with rather ease. For the U.S., Valencia saw himself win gold at 86kg outscoring his opponents 35-4 in four bouts. In the final, Valencia defeated world bronze medalist Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE), 8-0.

Snyder opened his season with a 33-1 scoring run in three bouts at 97kg in Zagreb. In the final, he easily defeated Abolfazl BABALOO (IRI).

Heybatov gave early warnings to the 70kg field by winning gold in Zagreb, a run which included wins over Austin GOMEZ (MEX), two back-to-back wins over Iranian wrestlers including a 12-1 one again Sina KHALILI (IRI) in the final. The two would wrestle again towards the end of the year at the U23 World Championships. Heybatov won that final with a 9-4 score.

Two veterans, Salkazanov and Khadjiev, were at their best in the opening Ranking Series tournament. Salkazanov blanked everyone, including winning 4-0 against David CARR (USA) in the final, to win 74kg gold.

Khadjiev had a tougher bat but managed to win the 79kg gold with a 5-3 win over Mahdi YOUSEFI (IRI) in the final. The French wrestler would later win silver at the European Championships.