Miracle, Hildebrandt, Micic at worlds

[maligned 721]

Sarah Hildebrandt starts working toward another world medal late night tonight in Kazakhstan. She has a bye into the Round of 16 where she'll be the 10th match on Mat B at a little after 2am. She'll be favored in that one but she unluckily drew the overall favorite Japanese in the quarterfinals. That match would most likely be sometime around 3am.

Edited September 18 by maligned

[Thor 310]

Wasn't Sarah the one seed? How does the Japanese favorite not get seeded, is it the same person who won world's last year?

[bigballerb 103]

24 minutes ago, Thor said:

Wasn't Sarah the one seed? How does the Japanese favorite not get seeded, is it the same person who won world's last year?

Not the same girl

[maligned 721]

3 hours ago, Thor said:

Wasn't Sarah the one seed? How does the Japanese favorite not get seeded, is it the same person who won world's last year?

This girl beat out the top girl who had all the seeding points. Japanese women are like Russian men only better. They've got a line of 5 girls at every weight that would win medals.

Edited September 16 by maligned

[MattM 862]

9 hours ago, maligned said:

Japanese women are like Russian men only better. They've got a line of 5 girls at every weight that would win medals.

True story.  Even with the US women having one of the most talented teams we have had in awhile, Japan is still projected to walk away with the overall title.  It wouldn’t be far fetched to say that Japans backup roster would give our main women’s squad a serious run for their money.  

 

Yes Sarah ended up with a tough draw due to Japans upset throwing off seeding. But this wrinkle in the bracket is likely the type of challenge she still welcomes and will need to embrace with an Olympic year looming.

Edited September 17 by MattM

[bigballerb 103]

1 hour ago, MattM said:

True story.  Even with the US women having one of the most talented teams we have had in awhile, Japan is still projected to walk away with the overall title.  It wouldn’t be far fetched to say that Japans backup roster would give our main women’s squad a serious run for their money.  

 

Yes Sarah ended up with a tough draw due to Japans upset throwing off seeding. But this wrinkle in the bracket is likely the type of challenge she still welcomes and will need to embrace with an Olympic year looming.

Completely agree, have to beat the best to be the best, no matter what round it happens in.

[Thor 310]

2 hours ago, MattM said:

True story.  Even with the US women having one of the most talented teams we have had in awhile, Japan is still projected to walk away with the overall title.  It wouldn’t be far fetched to say that Japans backup roster would give our main women’s squad a serious run for their money.  

 

Yes Sarah ended up with a tough draw due to Japans upset throwing off seeding. But this wrinkle in the bracket is likely the type of challenge she still welcomes and will need to embrace with an Olympic year looming.

Even though I’m rooting for her and believe she’ll win, it would still be a good opportunity for repachage if she loses. This match likely determines the gold medalist. 

[maligned 721]

Sarah techs the Vietnamese girl in 1:14. On to the main event. Come on, Sarah!

[maligned 721]

Sarah falls, 12-1, and will wait to see if the Japanese girl brings her back in to the repechage. If so, she would face the winner of two girls who both went the distance with the Japanese girl late tonight.

[bigballerb 103]

3 hours ago, maligned said:

Sarah falls, 12-1, and will wait to see if the Japanese girl brings her back in to the repechage. If so, she would face the winner of two girls who both went the distance with the Japanese girl late tonight.

One of the girls Sarah is waiting to wrestle has already beat her this year ( vinesh of India). Hoping Sarah can bring a bronze medal home and qualify the weight for the olympics.

[maligned 721]

Sarah loses to Vinesh and sadly falls short of both a medal and of qualifying the weight for the United States for next year's Olympics. She'll have another chance for qualifying the weight at Pan Am's next spring.

[maligned 721]

Miracle's draw is out. She'll be virtually right up tonight at 1am in an unlucky rattail vs Uzbekistan. She'll have the 2 seed Brazil in the round of 32 if she wins.

[Y2CJ41 4,945]

She pinned the Brazilian at Pan Am's, she's in a solid spot from my (less than) expert view.

[maligned 721]

I totally forgot about Micic wrestling for Serbia. He got a GREAT draw. He'll be a clear favorite in the first 2 rounds and then in the quarters would most likely have the Turk that he beat 6-5 in a heart stopper at Euro's. It's a loaded weight class but most of the talent fell in the opposite side. Here's hoping he can take advantage and pick up a medal!

Edited September 18 by maligned

[bigballerb 103]

Fix vs. micic in the world finals?🤔 hypothetically say they wrestle, who do you root for??

[Thor 310]

58 minutes ago, bigballerb said:

Fix vs. micic in the world finals?🤔 hypothetically say they wrestle, who do you root for??

That's a question that's been on my mind a lot. Fix is wrestling for team USA, and I want team USA to win every match. But Micic is one of my favorite wrestlers who I watched win 3 titles in Indiana that feels more personal since I've been watching him for so long. Super tough, but I might be rooting for Micic. 

[MattM 862]

1 hour ago, bigballerb said:

Fix vs. micic in the world finals?🤔 hypothetically say they wrestle, who do you root for??

To go with the strong ties you have to the state or support the goals of your nation.  Man that type of decision once divided families on the battlefield in years past.  But at least for this one I think we all come out as winner if they both just make it to the finals.  

Edited September 18 by MattM

[bigballerb 103]

24 minutes ago, Thor said:

That's a question that's been on my mind a lot. Fix is wrestling for team USA, and I want team USA to win every match. But Micic is one of my favorite wrestlers who I watched win 3 titles in Indiana that feels more personal since I've been watching him for so long. Super tough, but I might be rooting for Micic. 

The way I looked at it was that if fix made the finals then that’s great for the USA because imo and from what I heard fix realistically is looking at bronze at best. So I’ll be rooting for micic as well. 

[maligned 721]

Miracle wrestles well, winning her first two easily, but falls 6-6 in the round of 16 to a North Korean. Waiting now to see if she'll get brought back in to the repechage.

Micic also won his first two easily before losing 5-4 to Atli of Turkey. Atli will need to beat the very tough Sanayev of Kazakhstan in the semi's to bring Stevan back into medal contention.

[maligned 721]

The North Korean wins in the quarters to keep Miracle's hopes alive. 

Atli of Turkey and Rin of North Korea will wrestle semifinal matches shortly that would bring Micic and Miracle back into the medal discussion.

[maligned 721]

Micic gets brought back in. He'll face the winner of China and Italy in a repechage match where he'll be favored. If he wins, first of all, he would ensure himself a spot in the super-small 16-man Olympic brackets next year by virtue of being top 5. Secondly, he would wrestle for bronze.

 

[maligned 721]

The North Korean falls and Miracle's campaign is over.

[maligned 721]

Micic beats the Italian and will wrestle for bronze. He also clinches a spot for Serbia (himself) in the Olympics--something that only a few Americans from the 18 wrestling weights have been able to do.

[maligned 721]

Micic drops another tight one, 4-3, and finishes 5th. 

[maligned 721]

Miracle finishes 7th officially. The girl that beat her 6-6 ended up 5th, losing convincingly to the champ and the bronze medalist.