Paris Olympics: US Wrestling Trials Face Major Blow as Defending National Champion Keegan O’Toole Steps Down

The Paris Olympics are only a few months away, and Penn State is gearing up to host the country’s top wrestlers in a bid to secure their spot in the national team. However, for the 2023 NCAA champ Keegan O’Toole, things are looking much worse than most of his peers as an unexpected injury has cast a long shadow over his Team Trials hopes.

Missouri’s O’Toole is one of the most tantalizing names in the 74kg weight category. After a brilliant season, Keegan was being hailed as one of the wrestlers who could give his international competitors a run for their money on the big stage.

But a recent post on X by Justin Basch revealed that the Two-time Dan Hodge Trophy Finalist will not be heading to Penn State for the qualifiers this weekend. “Keegan O’Toole, the 3 seed, is now out of the Olympic Trials due to injury, Mizzou announced.“, notifies the post. While O’Toole has been a driving force behind Missouri’s impressive 10-4 overall record this season, his absence will have far-reaching impacts, it’s suspected.

“Will change the 74kg bracket a lot.”, estimates the post by Basch, and he’s not wrong. The 74kg weight class is arguably the most successful class in American freestyle wrestling history; and with names like Mitchell Mesenbrink, Jordan Burroughs, and Jason Nolf, it will also pose a force to be reckoned with at the Paris Olympics.

Wrestlers to benefit from Keegan O’Toole’s setback

The most explosive name in the weight class is arguably Kyle Dake. Riding high on his recent Pan American Championships glory, Dake is expected to send ripples at the Bryce Jordan Center. However, the task in front of him will not be an easy feat by any means, especially with 12 NLWC wrestlers having qualified for the team trials and eyeing a massive success by punching tickets to Paris en masse in their home ground.

On the other hand, after years of competing in a higher weight category, the 2012 Olympic gold medalist Jordan Burroughs has been training hard to get back to his old weight class for months. Despite pulling out of the Zagreb Open, Burroughs is hailed as a seminal wrestler who can cause major upset at the Team Trials and head to another Olympic Games. The six-time World Championships gold winner is sure to go all out in Penn State’s arena and others need to put their best feet forward to meet him on the mat.

Jason Nolf, the 2024 Zagreb Open winner is also one of the toughest contenders in the 74kg category. Subsequently, Penn State will also arrive with all guns blazing, riding on the backs of Alex Facundo, Levi Haines, and Nolf. With Keegan opting out, it waits to be seen how the others scurry to make the most of the new opportunity at hand.