Photo by Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com.

Bo Nickal (State College, Pa./Nittany Lion WC), who was the runner-up at 92 kg in men’s freestyle at Final X: Rutgers, has met the requirements and has formally requested a best-of-three Special Wrestle-Off for the 2019 U23 World Championships.

This provision was included in the 2019 UWW U23 MFS World Team Trials Procedures, as follows:

Delay of final wrestle-off may only occur in the following situation:

If a U23 age eligible athlete qualifies for Final X at the senior level, they do not have to participate in the U23 World Team Trials and can request a wrestle-off against the U23 World Team Trials champion at a date after Final X.

• The request for a wrestle-off must be made by end of day June 22, 2019 to Joe Russell.
• If there are two age eligible athletes at the weight class for Final X, the Final X champion will be the eligible athlete for the U23 wrestle-off. If the Final X champion declines the wrestle-off, the runner-up at Final X will receive the option for the wrestle-off.

For the spot, Nickal, a three-time NCAA champion for Penn State, will face off against 2019 U23 World Team Trials champion Jakob Woodley, a University of Oklahoma student-athlete, who recently won a Junior Pan American title earlier this month.

Nickal is the first men’s freestyle athlete to make the formal request for the Special Wrestle-Off. Other men’s freestyle athletes who are eligible as Final X finalists and meet U23 age-group requirements are Daton Fix at 57 kg, Yianni Diakomihalis at 65 kg, Ryan Deakin at 70 kg and Gable Steveson at 125 kg.

There are also three Greco-Roman athletes eligible to request a wrestle-off, which will be announced separately.

Currently, the date and site of the wrestle-off has not been determined.