2024 Olympic Team Trials Men's Freestyle Preview (57,65,74kg)

It’s almost here! The field has been set and the eyes of the American wrestling world are ready to collectively focus on State College, Pennsylvania, the setting of the 2024 US Olympic Team Trials. The Trials are always incredible and a must-see for fans; however, this one is a bit more special after the most recent Trials. Delayed by a year, because of COVID, the 2020(1) Trials were moved to Fort Worth, Texas, and did not have the type of crowd that is expected to pack the Bryce Jordan Center this time. 

Our previews have been broken down to half of a particular style at a time. Today we’re starting with the first three men’s freestyle weights. Two of them are not currently qualified for the 2024 Olympic Games, so there’s more work to be done for the winners at 57 and 65 kg. 

For each weight, we’ll mention the qualifiers, along with how they qualified, and notes about each of the participants, followed by a finals prediction. 

57 kg Qualifiers

2023 World Champion at Non-Olympic Weight: Vito Arujau (bye to the semifinals)

2023 World Team member: Zane Richards

2020(1) Olympic Team Member: Thomas Gilman

2019 World Team member: Daton Fix

2023 Bill Farrell champion: Spencer Lee

Senior Nationals Runner-Up: Nico Megaludis

Senior Nationals third place: Liam Cronin

Senior Nationals fourth place: Daniel DeShazer

Senior Nationals fifth place: Luke Lilledahl

Pan-American champion (61kg): Nick Suriano

2023 U17 World champion (55kg): Marcus Blaze

Last Chance Qualifier champion: Jax Forrest

Right off the bat, we have an interesting weight class with no true favorite. It’s a good mix of youth and experience, proven results versus potential. 

The returning world team member is Zane Richards, who shocked the wrestling world with a win over Nick Suriano at the 2023 US Open followed by a pair of wins over world champion Thomas Gilman at Final X. It was a great feel-good story as Richards has been grinding away on the Senior circuit since his collegiate career ended in 2017. Unfortunately, Richards’ results while being “the man” at 57 kg have been uneven and he wasn’t able to qualify the weight at the 2023 World Championships or at the Pan-American Qualifier. Therefore, the celebration for the winner in this bracket will be muted as they will need to head to Istanbul for the World OG Qualifier in early-May. Because of his status on the 2023 world team, Richards will assume the top seed at this weight. 

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