Kyle Dake takes emotional win while Kennedy Blades stuns Adeline Gray at U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials for Paris 2024
An emotional Kyle Dake won big on Saturday night (20 April) as the U.S. wrestling team for Olympic Games Paris 2024 took shape.
Dake booked his spot on Team USA by winning the 74kg freestyle weight class at the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Team Trials in in State College, Pennsylvania, nine days after the death of his father.
The five-time world champion will be joined on the U.S. roster by three-time Olympians: Kyle Snyder and Helen Maroulis, but extablished names including Adeline Gray and David Taylor miss out, as several new young talents caused upsets to book spots at their first Olympics.
As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
Kyle Dake wins 74 kg with a heavy heart
Kyle Dake easily won his matches by the scores of 4-1 and 3-1 over Jason Nolf, the man who had eliminated Jordan Burroughs from Olympic contention.
But on securing his spot at Paris 2024, Dake understandably didn’t look as joyful as other wrestlers who won on Saturday.
“It's pretty hard for me. My dad passed away last week. It's the first time that I have had to do this without him,” Dake said through tears after embracing his family following the contest.
Dake won Olympic bronze at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 in 2021, and is a five-time world champion. Before he moved to senior freestyle wrestling, Dake was a four-time NCAA champion at Cornell University, which is just a stone’s throw from his parents’ home in Lansing, New York. His dad was an accomplished wrestler in his own right, earning All-American honors in college at Kent State, and a big part of why Dake has excelled on the mat.
“Every time I would be with him, I was with him a lot, he would always say, 'hey, how's practice going? Who did you wrestle with today?' He was just a big part of this whole journey,” Dake said.
In other men’s freestyle action, Aaron Brooks won both his matches, 4-1, 3-1, by using superior defense against David Taylor, the Olympic gold medalist at 86kg from three years ago. Brooks and Taylor train together at the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, and Brooks recently became just the seventh man to win four North American NCAA championships, winning for Penn State. Now, Brooks will have the opportunity to do what his coach, Cael Sanderson did, and top off a special collegiate career with an Olympic medal.
At 97 kg, Kyle Snyder blanked Isaac Trumble, winning 5-0 and 4-0, and earned the chance to become a three-time Olympian for the United States. Snyder won gold in Rio 2016 and silver in 2020. Mason Parris rounds out the nominees for the U.S. Olympic men’s freestyle team, beating Hayden Zillmer with the identical scores of 7-0 and 7-0 at 120 kg.
Helen Maroulis headed to her third Olympics
In 2016, Helen Maroulis became the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in wrestling. Now, in 2024, she is due to become the first three-time Olympian among American female wrestlers. She got to this point with two wins over Jacarra Winchester at 57 kg. The first was a pin after 2:41, and the second was a 6-0 decision.
“You can never take anything for granted. And man, this this is just really special,” Maroulis said after her second match with Winchester.
At 76 kg, Kennedy Blades is part of the next generation of women wrestlers. On Saturday, she beat Adeline Gray, a two-time Olympian and silver medalist in Tokyo. Blades was aggressive throughout her two matches with Gray, winning 11-6 and 8-3. After the loss, Gray said she still believes the U.S. will take home hardware at her weight class.
“Kennedy is an amazing competitor and she proved that today. Coming through a gauntlet of tournament, the toughest weight class by far, and she came out on top. She's got a lot of explosive talent, very few holes. So I’m proud of her for stepping up and being willing to battle,” Gray said after the match, while holding the twins she gave birth to just a year ago.
In other women’s freestyle action, Sarah Hildebrandt won her two bouts by 10-0 technical superiority at 50 kg over high schooler Aubrey Jimenez. Hildebrandt won bronze in Tokyo 2020. Dominique Parrish won the 53 kg weight class with two wins over Haley Augello: 2-1 and 5-2. Kayla Miracle will return to the Olympics to try and win a medal at 62 kg. She beat Macey Kilty 8-5 and 3-1. Two-time world champion Amit Elor will go to her first Olympics with two wins over Forrest Molinari, winning 6-0 and 2-1.
Payton Jacobson with improbable run to Paris
The 86 kg at Greco-Roman was a new weight class for Payton Jacobson, so he walked into the Olympic Trials as the seventh seed. Still, he managed to win a spot on the U.S. team. Jacobson went 2-1 over Spencer Woods, who had secured the quota for the U.S. Jacobson won 8-2, 2-5, 3-1 to claim the berth.
After years of getting close, Josef Rau has finally made an Olympic team. The 97-kg wrestler lost his first match to Alan Vera, 7-1, but then came back to win the second and third matches 6-0 and 8-0.
At 130 kg in Greco-Roman, Adam Coon was the last wrestler of the night to be named to the team for Paris. He lost his first match 3-1 to Cohlton Schultz, but finished the night with two wins, claiming the second on criteria after it ended in a 1-1 draw, and sealing the spot with a 6-1 win in the decider.
For weights that have not obtained a quota, the winning wrestlers from this weekend’s tournament will now head to the World Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Istanbul, Turkiye, 9-12 May. While the United States secured quotas in every women’s freestyle weight class, the men’s freestyle 57 kg winner, Spencer Lee; 65 kg winner Zain Retherford; Greco Roman winner at 60 kg Dalton Roberts; Greco Roman winner at 67 kg Ellis Coleman; and winner at Greco-Roman 77kg Kamal Bey will represent the U.S. to try and secure a quota and their spot at Paris 2024.