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Four Olympic Champions Make Up 2019 Pan American Championships Field

Tuesday, April 16, 2019 - 01:16 By Taylor Miller

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Pictured: Erica WIEBE (CAN) at the 2018 World Championships. Photo by Martin Gabor.  

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Six Olympic medalists, including four Olympic champions, highlight the field at the 2019 Senior Pan American Championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina, April 18-21. Each style has at least one Olympic champion in the field.

Men’s freestyle, April 20-21
Three of the four Olympic medalists in the men’s freestyle brackets come from USA, including 2012 champion Jordan BURROUGHS, 2016 champion Kyle SNYDER and 2016 bronze medalist J’den COX.

All three Americans own Senior World titles with Burroughs winning gold in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017, Snyder claiming the crown in 2015 and 2017 and Cox earning his first last October.  

The final Olympic medalist in men’s freestyle is Jaime Yusept ESPINAL (PUR). A 2012 Olympic silver medalist, Espinal, who will compete at 97 kg, will battle for his first Pan Am Championships medal.

The United States boasts three other World medalists.

David TAYLOR won gold in 2018, battling through a tough 86 kg bracket for his first World championship. Taylor looks to defend his 2018 Pan American title.

Two-time World bronze medalist Nick GWIAZDOWSKI and 2018 World bronze winner and returning Pan Am champion Joe COLON will represent the U.S. at 125 kg and 61 kg, respectively.

Both athletes will have World medalists in their brackets this week.

At 61 kg, reigning Senior World champion and two-time World bronze medalist Yowlys BONNE RODRIGUEZ (CUB) looks for his first Pan American Championships medal since 2016 and third overall. Bonne Rodriguez won the tournament in 2005 and 2012 and took bronze in 2016.

Looking to challenge Gwiazdowski is two-time World bronze medalist Oscar PINO HINDS (CUB), who is a three-time defending Pan Am champion.

In addition to Bonne Rodriguez and Pino Hinds, Cuba brings a strong freestyle roster to the tournament this weekend, including 2017 U23 World champion Reineri ANDREU ORTEGA at 57 kg and multiple-time Senior World medalist Reineris SALAS PEREZ at 97 kg. Both are returning Pan Am champions.

Women’s freestyle, April 19-20
2016 Olympic champion Erica WIEBE (CAN) will compete this week at 76 kg. Most recently, she finished fifth at the 2018 World Championships in Budapest. Winning the weight at Worlds last year was Adeline GRAY (USA), who looks to repeat 2018 Pan Am gold-medal performance.

Gray, a four-time World champion, defeated Wiebe in the World semifinals in October.

Canada also brings 2018 World bronze medalist Diana WEICKER at 53 kg and multiple-time age-group World medalist Braxton STONE at 62 kg.

In order to take the Pan Am crown at 53 kg, Weicker will have go through 2018 World silver medalist and returning Pan Am champion Sarah HILDEBRANDT (USA).

Stone will have 2018 Senior World bronze winner Mallory VELTE (USA) and 2018 Pan Am champion Yaquelin ESTORNELL ELIZASTIGUE (CUB) in her bracket.

Also repping Cuba is 2018 Senior World bronze medalist Lianna MONTERO HERRERA at 57 kg and 2018 U23 World champion Yudari SANCHEZ RODRIGUEZ at 68 kg.

It’s possible that 2018 Pan American champion Sanchez Rodriguez could face 2018 World medalist Tamyra MENSAH-STOCK (USA) this weekend. Mensah-Stock defeated the Cuban at the 2018 Senior World Championships.

There are three other age-group World medalists in the field, counting 2011 Junior World bronze medalist Luisa VALVERDE MELENDRES (ECU), 2015 Junior World bronze medalist and 2018 Pan Am champion Alejandra ROMERO BONILLA (MEX) and 2013 Junior World runner-up and two-time Junior World bronze medalist Erin GOLSTON (USA).

Greco-Roman, April 18-19
Seven of the 10 2018 Pan American champions in Greco-Roman return to the continental championships this year, with Cuba, USA and Venezuela each brining two.

For Cuba, it’s Luis ORTA SANCHEZ at 60 kg and five-time Pan American champion Ismael BORRERO MOLINA at 67 kg.

In addition to his Pan Am success, Borrero Molina is a 2016 Olympic champion and 2015 World champion.

USA returns Ryan MANGO, the continental champ at 63 kg, and RaVaughn PERKINS, who won it at 72 kg last year.

The United States also boasts 2018 Senior World silver medalist Adam Coon at 130 kg, 2017 Junior World champion Kamal Bey at 77 kg and Junior World medalists Ellis COLEMAN at 67 kg and G’Angelo HANCOCK at 97 kg.

Representing Venezuela are 2018 Pan Am champions Luis AVENDANO ROJAS at 87 kg and Luillys PEREZ MORA at 97 kg. Avendano Rojas moves up a weight after winning the title at 82 kg last year.

Others to watch out for in Greco-Roman are 2018 Pan Am champion Sargis KHACHATRYAN (BRA) at 55 kg and two-time age-group medalist Kevin MEJIA CASTILLO (HON) at 97 kg.

Schedule
Thursday, April 18
10 a.m. – Qualification rounds (GR 55-60-63-67-72-97-130kg)
4:30 p.m. – Opening Ceremonies
5 p.m. – Finals (GR 55-60-63-67-72-97-130kg)

Friday, April 19
10 a.m. – Qualification rounds (GR 77-82-87kg & WW 55-59-65-72kg)
5 p.m. – Finals (GR 77-82-87kg & WW 55-59-65-72kg)

Saturday, April 20
10 a.m. – Qualification rounds (WW 50-53-57-62-68-76kg & FS 79-92kg)
5 p.m. – Finals (WW 50-53-57-62-68-76kg & FS 79-92kg)

Sunday, April 21
10 a.m. – Qualification rounds (FS – 57-61-65-70-74-86-97-125kg)
5 p.m. – Finals (FS – 57-61-65-70-74-86-97-125kg)

 

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UWW Top Ranked Wrestlers of 2025: Verbina, Komarov, Aoyagi

Wednesday, December 17, 2025 - 19:03 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 17) -- United World Wrestling has announced the three Best Ranked Wrestlers in 2025. The three wrestlers earned the most ranking points in the year 2025.

The most ranking points in the year 2025 were earned by world champion Aleksandr KOMAROV (SRB) in Greco-Roman as he scored 83,500 points. In Women's Wrestling, world silver medalist Ekaterina VERBINA (UWW) was the highest ranked wrestler as she earned 64,200 points.

In Freestyle, world champion Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) earned 76,900 points, the best among all wrestlers.

Verbina: Women's 55kg

Verbina may not have won the gold medal at the World Championships but she had a busy year, wrestling more often than others. That earned her more ranking points than many as she finished at the top of the rankings in Women's Wrestling.

Her first competition was the Zagreb Open Ranking Series in which she finished fifth for just 4,000 points. In the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series in Tirana, Albania where she finished with a bronze medal that earned her 5,2000 points. She added 10,000 points for her gold medal at the European Championships. Another gold, at the Budapest Ranking Series, added 8,000 points.

Verbina entered the World Championships with 27,200 points. She jumped ahead of many with 37,000 points for her silver medal at 55kg. Her total went up to 64,200 points, taking her past the likes of world champions Sakura ONISHI (JPN) and Miwa MORIKAWA (JPN). Both finished 1,200 points less than Verbina.

Komarov: Greco 87kg

Komarov began his season with the Zagreb Open Ranking Series and finished fifth, giving him 9,000 points. A similar result at the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series gave him 9,000 points.

A big boost came at the European Championships in which Komarov won a bronze medal at 87kg to earn 11,500 points. In June, another fifth place finish at the Budapest Ranking Series added 9,000 points to his name to take the total to 38,500 points before the World Championships.

In Zagreb at the Worlds, Komarov won the gold medal and earned a stunning 45,000 points to 83,500 points, the most among all wrestlers and 13,780 points more than second most -- Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB).

Aoyagi: Freestyle 70kg

World champion was the top ranked freestyle wrestler with 76,900 points, 9,600 points more than the second place wrestler.

His first competition was the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series in which he bagged the gold medal to earn 11,000 points. He then added a bronze medal at the Asian Championships and earned 9,500 points for the same.

The Budapest Ranking Series gold gave him another 11,000 points, taking his total to 31,500 points before the World Championships. He became a world champion in Zagreb and that gold medal was worth 45,000 points, sending his total to 76,500 points.

Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK), with 66,900 points, is the second-best wrestler, 9,600 points less than Aoyagi.