57kg 2022 Worlds Preview: Thomas Gilman Looking To Defend World Title
57kg 2022 Worlds Preview: Thomas Gilman Looking To Defend World Title
A preview and predictions for 57kg at the 2022 World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia.
Thomas Gilman is the defending world champion and will represent the United States at 57kg in Serbia at the 2022 World Championships. 57kg is one of the deepest weight classes in the world, filled with past world and Olympic medalists. Check out a preview of this weight class where we break down the entire field and make our medal predictions.
This is the first year UWW is moving to 8 seeds (previously 4) and will give us a much better picture of the potential bracket at 57kg in Serbia. Nothing stands out too much in the seeds below as most of the top talent earned the top 5 seeds. Most notably, the favorites, Thomas Gilman and Ravi Kumar are the top seeds and will only meet if they both make the finals. There are a few dangerous wrestlers who will be unseeded and randomly drawn into the bracket, but we’ll get to those competitors in the “Landmines” section of this preview.
57kg Seeds:
- Thomas Gilman, USA
- Ravi Kumar, IND
- Horst Lehr, GER
- Alireza Sarlak, IRI
- Vladimir Egorov, MKD
- Beka Bujiashvili, GEO
- Oscar Tigreros, COL
- Muhammet Karavus, TUR
Favorites
The best wrestlers in the field:
- Thomas Gilman, USA
- Ravi Kumar, IND
As mentioned, Thomas Gilman and Ravi Kumar are the clear favorites to win the gold medal at this year’s world championships in Serbia. Kumar won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics last year where he only lost to Russia’s Zaur Uguev. Gilman brought home bronze from the Olympics and, like Kumar, his only loss was to Uguev. Gilman then went on to win the World Championships in October - while Kumar did not wrestle at those world championships in Oslo. Their potential match is one of the most anticipated in the entire world championships and will only happen if the two meet for gold.
Since the world championships, Thomas Gilman has competed 3 times - winning the Pan-Am Championships in March, Final X in June, and the Zouhaier Sghaier ranking series tournament in July. At Pan-Ams, Gilman went 3-0 with two pins and a tech to win gold. Then, at Final X, Gilman left no doubt against Vito Arujau with two dominant, technical superiority wins - 12-2 and 14-2. The Zouhaier Sghaier tournament proved to be the biggest challenge for Gilman. In his opening round match, Gilman was pinned by 2021 world bronze medalist Horst Lehr. Gilman, however, was able to wrestle back to win gold because the tournament was set up in a round-robin, pool format. On his way to gold, Gilman impressively defeated last year’s world silver medalist, Alireza Sarlak in a thrilling, 11-7 match.
Gilman's most recent win over Alireza Sarlak:
After taking a break from competition following his Olympic performance, Ravi Kumar wrestled at the Yasar Dogu and Dan Kolov tournaments in February up at 61kg before dropping back down to 57kg in April for the Asian Championships. Kumar’s only loss in those three tournaments came to #8 Zelimkhan Abakakrov, 7-1. Despite that loss, Kumar bounced back and won gold at both the Dogu and Asian Championships. Kumar’s most notable wins in those tournaments were over Olympic 5th place finisher Gulomjon Abdullaev (Dogu finals) and Kazakhstan’s Rakhat Kalzhan (Asian Championship finals).
Ravi Kumar's win over Rakhat Kalzhan in the 2022 Asian Championship finals:
Despite both Gilman and Kumar taking losses, the two are undoubtedly the favorites to win 57kg. Should they meet in the finals - expect an extremely physical bout and a blistering match-pace. They’ve never met in their freestyle careers adding even more anticipation to this potential match.
Contenders
The group with the most potential to medal or challenge the favorites:
- Alireza Sarlak, IRI
- Horst Lehr, GER
- Toshihiro Hasegawa, JPN
Alireza Sarlak, Horst Lehr, and Toshihiro Hasegawa are all legitimate contenders for a variety of reasons. Sarlak proved last year that he can navigate the world championships field and made the finals where he ultimately fell short to Gilman, 5-3.
Hasegawa won bronze at 61kg at last year’s world championships but has dropped down to 57kg where he’ll be unseeded and a nightmare draw for anyone in this bracket. Hasegawa notably won a U23 world title in 2018 where he took out Ravi Kumar in the finals by locking up a cradle for the fall while leading 6-0.
Hasegawa's win over Ravi Kumar at the 2018 U23 World Championships:
And then there’s Horst Lehr. The German burst onto the world scene in 2021 when he won a world bronze medal and recently backed up that performance by PINNING Thomas Gilman at the ranking series event In Tunisia. Lehr is a dynamic wrestler and capable of spoiling a Gilman-Kumar final.
Lehr's win over Gilman from July 2022:
Landmines
The group that isn't projected to medal right now but has big potential to "blow up" the bracket:
- Aliabas Rzazade, AZE
- Almaz Smanbekov, KGZ
- Muhammet Karavus, TUR
- Rakhat Kalzhan, KAZ
- Gulomjon Abdullaev, UZB
Even though there are 8 seeds this year at worlds, the above 5 wrestlers will all be unseeded and have the ability to turn the bracket upside down. Aliabas Rzazade is a young contender who won a U23 world title in 2021 and most recently defeated Horst Lehr in June at the Matteo Pellicone, 5-3.
Rzazade's win over Lehr:
Almaz Smanbekov won the Yasar Dogu in February and followed up that performance by winning bronze at the Asian Championships in April. In that time frame, Smanbekov had impressive wins over two other landmines in Muhammet Karavus and Gulomjon Abdullaev.
Smanbekov's win over Abdullaev from the 2022 Asian Championships:
Karavus and Abdullaev are included in this landmine list because they have shown glimpses of greatness in their performances over the past 2 years. Abdullaev was seconds away from beating Uguev at the Olympics and even defeated Ravi Kumar last year. Karavus won junior world silver last year and wrestles a pace and style that can give many wrestlers in this field problems.
Abdullaev's win over Ravi Kumar from the 2021 Poland Open:
Then there’s Rakhat Kalzhan - the 2022 Asian Silver medalist. Prior to that tournament, Kalzhan had never placed at a senior-level tournament. He impressed at the Asian Championships by defeating the aforementioned Abdullaev and Smanbekov. Kalzhan seems to have jumped levels and could make some noise at worlds - especially being randomly drawn into the bracket.
Kalzhan's win over Smanbekov at the 2022 Asian Championships:
Predictions
Ultimately, I believe Thomas Gilman is the most complete wrestler in the 57kg field and will come away with the world title from Serbia. Gilman has continued to improve on his technique and few around the world can deal with the pace at which he wrestles. Kumar often uses pace and size to wilt his opponents and that style won't work as well against Gilman. If they meet, expect an exciting match from start to finish, with the potential for big points to be scored from whistle to whistle.
For the bronze medalists, I'm predicting the young up-and-comer Aiabas Rzazade will have a breakout performance. Rzazade wrestles a fearless style and has the ability to put up points in bunches. That style can prove as dangerous to Rzazade as to his opponents but the young Azeri has a ton of potential I'm predicting to be realized on the biggest stage. Toshihiro Hasegawa is a safer pick for bronze and has the ability to win the whole 57kg bracket.
57kg 2022 World Championship Predictions:
Gold: Thomas Gilman, USA
Silver: Ravi Kumar, IND
Bronze: Aliabas Rzazade, AZE
Bronze: Toshihiro Hasegawa, JPN
Get to know the 57kg field even better by looking at our World Championships Rankings - a ranking of the top 10 guys in every weight class based on head-to-head wins.