The Pan Am Championships have been a major success in Team USA’s road to Paris 2024. Similarly, the Pan American Olympic Qualifiers have been just as thrilling. However, while the US wrestlers have qualified for most weight classes for the Olympic Games, other potential candidates took an unexpected tumble along the way. And yet, the country’s big hopes seem to keep burning, albeit carrying some other national flags en route to the French capital.

Many of the country’s top collegiate wrestlers come from different nations with dreams of kickstarting their professional careers in style. With some incredibly successful programs across the US, the NCAA is filled to the brim with talent, and some of them are continuing to prove their worth and posing big roadblocks on the way for Team USA’s top seeds.

The Olympic Games will host US-trained wrestlers under guise

A recent post on X by Christian Pyles, the Content Director of FloSports, shed light on what could have otherwise been a fairytale for the country’s national team at the Olympic Games. “Americans at Olympics, Men’s Freestyle”, reads the post, before listing all the wrestlers who could have well worn the US flag on their back for the Olympics. The 57kg weight class is led by Lehigh Universty’s three-time All-American and the 2017 NCAA champ Darian Cruz, who is set to represent Puerto Rico in Paris.

On the other hand, the 2017 Big Ten champion Stevan Micic will be carrying the Serbian name on his jersey despite having earned a name for himself as a Michigan Wolverine. Roman Bravo Young of the prestigious Penn State will have Mexicans rally behind him thanks to his flourishing skills under the tutelage of the iconic Cael Sanderson.

The US failed to qualify in both the 57kg and 65kg weight classes. And both of those two defeats came from home-bred wrestlers. The 65kg category will see the Wisconsin Badgers’ poster boy Austin Gomez deciding to represent his home country Mexico at the Olympic Games, while Puerto Rican Sebastian Rivera lends his skills to his national team after spending considerable time at Rutgers. However, the US doesn’t fair too shabbily considering the other weight classes.

Team USA continues to see the light at the end of the tunnel

While Zane Richards and Nick Lee lost their footing to Darian Cruz and Austin Gomez respectively, the country’s Greco-Roman athletes bagged more success in Acapulco, Mexico. Spencer Woods (87kg), Alan Vera (97kg), and Cholton Schultz (130kg), on the other hand, kickstarted the event in style on Day 1, which the women’s freestyle squad replicated on the second day emphatically. Kayla Miracle, Dom Parrish, and Amit Elor qualified in their respective categories after arduous battles.

Read more: Pan Am Olympic Qualifiers: USA’s No.1 Ranked Woman Wrestler Makes Major Progress Towards Olympic Debut

And yet, Kamal Bey and Alex Sancho ended up being ousted after being handed humiliating defeats. With the two categories still in contention, the other US-trained athletes are currently being hailed as the flagbearers of the country’s elite status.