What we learned from the United States’ domination at the 2024 Pan American Wrestling Championships
A perfect record in men’s freestyle and dominance all around to total 29 medals and 17 golds. Team USA landed on the podium in all but one weight class in Acapulco ahead of the Pan Am Olympic Qualifiers kicking off on 28 February.
Wrestling
It’s almost as if it were raining gold for the United States at the 2024 Pan American Wrestling Championships.
Of the 29 medals taken by Team USA across all three divisions in Acapulco, Mexico, 17 of those were gold, five were silver and seven bronze. They took the overall Championship title, as well as the title in the men’s freestyle, women’s freestyle and men’s Greco-Roman divisions.
Men’s freestyle was a highlight in itself, with a gold medal taken in all 10 weight classes. Plus, of each one of the matches, only two went the full six minutes for a final record of 33-0.
These Championships wrapped up just four days ahead of the kick off of the 2024 Pan American Olympic Qualifiers that will also be held in Acapulco, where Team USA will attempt to obtain Olympic quotas for the 11 weight classes yet to secure a spot in Paris.
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
Adeline Gray celebrates at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Chiba, Japan.
Team USA's highlights at the 2024 Pan American Wrestling Championship
Perfect records on perfect records - Nick Lee (65kg) was dominant throughout the competition, taking gold after a 10-0 win over Ecuador’s Joshua Kramer, followed by another 10-0 over Canada’s Jacob Torres. The two matches were enough to secure him his spot on top of the podium, as his final opponent pulled out due to injury. Lee will be competing again in Acapulco at the Olympic Qualifier.
Adeline Gray and Macey Kilty will also be returning home with perfect records going 10-0 and 11-0, respectively. Gray held a decade-long winning streak at the World Wrestling Championships until 2023, where she returned to competition just 14 months after giving birth to still land on the podium and take bronze.
With his final match being named the most anticipated match of the entire Championships, Spencer Lee made his return to international competition after eight years with two perfect 10-0 records, before facing Venezuela’s Pedro Mejias in a nail-biting match, where he came out on top with a 12-2.
Hayden Tuma (63kg) and Alejandro Sancho (67kg) took the only two golds for the men’s Greco-Roman weight classes. Tuma won all three matches, finishing with 8-3, 4-1 and 4-0 records, while Sancho finished with a consistent 4-1, 4-3 and 3-1 over his opponents.
Up next for USA Wrestling: Pan Am Olympic Qualifier
Also in Acapulco, Mexico, the Pan American Olympic Qualifier kicks off on Wednesday 28 February, and the United States is sending 11 athletes in attempts to obtain quotas for the 11 remaining weight classes not yet secured for Paris.
If they continue dominating like they did at the Championships, the United States could send an athlete for every Olympic weight class this summer.
Amit Elor, Dom Parrish and Kayla Miracle will be representing for the women’s freestyle 68kg, 58kg and 62kg, respectively, and Zane Richards and Nick Lee will be the men’s freestyle representatives in the 57kg and 65kg classes.
The United States has obtained Olympic quotas for all remaining men’s and women’s freestyle classes, but are still yet to obtain any quotas in the men’s Greco-Roman weight classes.
The American men going for quotas in Acapulco for these weights are Ildar Hadizov (60kg), Alex Sancho (67kg), Kamal Bey (77kg), Spencer Woods (87kg) Alan Vera (97kg) and Cohlton Schultz (130kg).