LAS VEGAS, NV • Returning Olympic silver medalist Kennedy Blades has chosen to decline her Final X invitation. Meaning, she has made a conscious decision not to sit out until the finals of the Trials’ process and allow her competition to wrestle it out while she waits. Instead, Blades has chosen to wrestle with the same goal at a new weight. Blades, now 21 years old, will drop to 68kg and commit to this being her new competition weight as she looks to make the World Team and capture World gold—and on the surface, she looks unstoppable.
Because of the USA Wrestling guidelines, if Blades chooses to wrestle in a different weight class than the weight she won an Olympic medal in, then she will have to go through the standard Trials’ formalities to earn her way. The US Open is her first step. If she wins the Open, then she is in the finals of the Trials and can forego the Challenge Tournament.
Now, in Blades dropping down a weight, she has created quite a movement, and definitely a great deal of conversation. With her commitment to wrestle at 68kg, this not only leaves an opening at 76kg, but it makes several 68kg wrestlers consider if they want to compete with the soaring talent of Blades, or find another path to the World Team through moving up a weight class. Since the next three years are non-Olympic years, wrestlers can also compete at 72kg, so there is a middle ground and a road to wrestling at World Championships outside of 68kg, but that is no guarantee either.
As for Blades, she is certain that she has made the right move at the right time. She has commented that she feels healthier, faster, stronger, and more powerful than she has ever felt. For Blades, this news could not be more positive. For her competition, this news could not be more discouraging.
In 2024, without cutting any weight, Blades not only defeated Adeline Gray, arguably America’s most dominant female wrestler in the past ten years to make the United States Olympic Team, but she did so at 20 years old. This means that Blades has still not fully matured into her strength and awareness and overall wrestling “game”; quite the opposite, she is just getting started, and her dropping one weight class only favors her talents and her explosive style of wrestling.
With the drop, initially, there was some talk about the potential matchup between two of the sport’s youngest and most exciting female stars, Blades and Amit Elor. However, a matchup between Blades and the Olympic gold medalist is not the cards, at least not this year. Elor, who has also declined her Final X invitation, will be moving up a weight to 72kg, which means, ultimately, Elor may not be coming back down to 68kg anytime soon. But there is always a possibility as this is only year one of the new quad, and she may find 68kg, in time, is a better weight for her than 76kg. But only time will tell.
So, with that matchup set to the side, Blades’ US Open tournament this week, not dismissing anyone, may be more of an exercise in her routine and preparation while she continues to work through her process, as much as it is about her competing and identifying where she needs to adjust or improve.
With the seeds out, it is no surprise that Blades has earned the top seed at the weight. Here is how the weight is currently seeded:
01 • Kennedy Blades, Iowa Women’s WC/TMWC
02 • Brooklyn Hays, USOPTC, TMWC
03 Solin Piearcy, USOPTC/TMWC
04 • Shannon Workinger, Quincy Regulator Wrestling
05 • Olivia Pizano, Lehigh Valley Wrestling RTC
06 • Vlare Waite, Cardinal WC
07 • Destiny Lyng, Pennsylvania
08 • Noelle Gaffney, New Jersey
In this, it will be exciting to see Blades back on the mat at a new weight. It will also be interesting to see how she moves and how she attacks and how she prepares, as well as if there is anyone, at least in the US, who can compete with her high level of intensity and experience, as well as her double leg and signature suplex, as the race for making the World Team begins this week in Vegas.
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• TC LIFONTI / LEAD WRITER FOR ILLINOIS MATMEN / tclifonti.com
