Sadulaev to wrestle off Kurbanov Oct. 10-15 for 97kg spot
The Russian 97kg entry is in, but Sadulaev still has a camp match to win first.
Abdulrashid Sadulaev is listed in the Senior Worlds entries at 97kg, and he still has a wrestle-off to get through. Jon Kozak posted that Sadulaev said he is wrestling off Kurbanov at the next world team camp, October 10-15. That is the last gate between Sadulaev and a weight class that already looks like the heaviest bracket of the tournament.
InfaWrest flagged the entry first, noting at the time that nothing had surfaced about a camp wrestle-off. Kozak's reply filled in the missing piece with a date range attached.
The 97kg field
Per InfaWrest, the field at 97kg features three other Olympic champions in Hassan Yazdani of Iran, Kyle Snyder of the United States and Akhmed Tazhudinov of Bahrain. Add Sadulaev and that is four Olympic gold medalists stacked into one freestyle bracket.
"It's looking likely he will join the war for gold at 97KG"
That was InfaWrest's read on the entry list before the wrestle-off news landed.
What is actually settled
The entry is an entry. Kozak's post is sourced to Sadulaev himself rather than to a federation announcement, so the name on the Worlds line at 97kg for Russia is not final until the camp match is wrestled. Nobody has said what happens to the spot if Kurbanov wins.
Our take, the interesting part is that Sadulaev is being made to earn it at all. A camp wrestle-off inside a one week window is a thin margin for a wrestler of his resume, and it is the only thing standing between the sport and a 97kg bracket with four Olympic champions in it.
What to watch
The camp runs October 10-15, so the Sadulaev and Kurbanov result should surface inside that window.
Whether Russia's final 97kg entry matches the name already in the Senior Worlds list.
It's looking likely he will join the war for gold at 97KG