The Americans and Russians are once again set to do battle for the team title in men's freestyle at the world championships.

Last year in Paris, the USA won by one point as it came down to the final match of the tournament. It should be another excellent back and forth this year in Budapest, but the scoring system has changed.

Check out this FRL short in which the boys try to handicap the team race before the action gets underway on Saturday.

Below are the minimum and maximum number of points possible for the top contenders in the men's freestyle 2018 World Championship team race.

Day 1 Session 1

We are through the quarterfinals and into the semifinals of the first session. So 61, 74, 86 and 125 will wrestle semifinals next. 

Russia and Georgia are tied for the unofficial lead at moment, each getting three into the semis. Azerbaijan had a disastrous first day, with zero semifinalists and only two wrestlers still eligible to be pulled into the repechage and a shot at a bronze medal. 

Parvis Hadi's surprise quarterfinal win over Taha Akgul helped ease the pain for the Iranian fans after David Taylor beat Hasan Yazdani in the first round. Yazdani is still alive for the repechage thanks to his win over Cuba's Torreblanca in the quarters. 

It was a mixed bag for the Americans. Taylor and Joe Colon made the semis, whereas Nick Gwiazdowski and Jordan Burroughs lost heartbreakers. Needless to say, however, it is still anyone's tournament at this point. 

Day 1 Session 2

Russia pushed two through the finals while David Taylor heroically made the gold medal bout in his first World Championship ever, dropping a Russian into the repechage in the process. Below are the updated minimum and maximums of our contenders, now with Turkey!

Day 2 Session 1

This was a big one for both the Americans and the Russians. Only ten point points separate the two rivals, in both guaranteed (min) and potential (max) points. Georgia, Iran, Belarus, Japan and to some extent, Turkey, are in a dog fight for third. Azerbaijan has had a disastrous tournament and Uzbekistan may need to be removed from the discussion entirely.  

Everything is even with Russia and the USA except that in the medal round tonight, Russia will have two going for gold (Radhidov at 61 and Sidakov at 74) and two going for bronze (Kurugliev at 86 and Khizriev at 125), whereas the USA has one going for gold (Taylor at 86) and three for bronze (Colon at 61, Burroughs at 74 and Gwiz at 125). 

Taylor will be favored for gold, Colon has a winnable match against Iran, Burroughs has Chamizo (nuff said) and Gwiz will be a big favorite over India in his match. 

For Russia, Rashidov will be the favorite against Bonne, Sidakov a slight favorite over Kentchadze, Kurugliev has Yazdani, which means all Americans are on team Yazdani the Greatest for the evening, and Khizriev has Hadi of Iran. So break out the vuvuzela again and get ready to cheer for Iran. 

In the semis, Dake's match with Gadzhimagomedov will be pivotal. We will oddly be pulling for Chakaev to beat Japan to pull Logan back into the repechage, at 57, root for Takahashi to knock off Uguev, and in the 92 semi, break the vuvuzela over your knee and cheer for Cox to take out Karimi of Iran. 

The opening ceremonies won't end soon enough. Tonight's slate of wrestling is outstanding. 

Day Two Post-Semifinal Update

Day 2 Final Update

What a day for the Americans. Team USA goes four-for-four in medal matches, David Taylor gets gold, and Joe Colon, Jordan Burroughs and Nick Gwiazdowski all won bronze. Russia did not keep pace, as even though Sidakov was golden at 74, Rashidov lost in the 61 kg finals to the ageless Yowlys Bonne and both Kurugliev and Khizriev lost in their bronze medal matches. 

The prelims of 57, 65, 79 and 92 helped solidify the men's freestyle tournament as a two-horse race. J'den Cox and Kyle Dake will wrestle for gold tomorrow while Thomas Gilman will wrestle for bronze. Russia put one in the finals (Uguev at 57) and two in the bronze medal matches (Chakaev at 65 and Gadzhimagomedov at 79). So first time in the tournament, the USA has the most guaranteed and potential points.

Both USA and Russia have 55 team points in play tomorrow. America achieves that by going 3-0 in medal matches and putting both Green and Snyder in the finals. Likewise, Russia has three medal matches and two strong finalist contenders in Sadulaev at 97 and 2015 world champ Magomedrasul Gazimagomedov at 70kg. The only potential head-to-head is if James Green hits Gazimagomedov in the quarterfinals.

Georiga is starting to pull away in the race for third, thanks to a big boost by back-to-back world champ Geno Petriashvili at heavyweight. Iran is right there with them, and currently has more team points, but a lower max potential score.

Tomorrow will see the medal matches for 57, 65, 79 and 92 and the prelims for 70 and 97, the last two weights. Green and Gazimagomedov are the guys at 70 and of course, Snyder and Sadulaev headline 97. It's going to be another fun one I suspect!

Day 3, Session 1

The second round at 70kg proved to be a massive hit to America's chances at a title. Mongolia got Green to a quad pod and finished it to the mat with under 10 seconds remaining. A few minutes later, Gazimagomedov won, meaning we have to root for Mongolia to make the finals.

Kyle Snyder did as expected in making the quarterfinals. He posted an 8-3 win over Mongolia in the first round and quickly teched American Samoa 10-0. On the opposite side, Sadulaev posted an 11-0 tech against Macedonia and won 14-3 over Kazakhstan to keep pace.

Below is an update on the guaranteed (min) and potential (max) possible points from our contenders. 

USA still in the lead but it should be noted that our own Wrestling Nomad has determined that TSakulov is assured seventh place at 92 kg, a placement that usually isn't calculated until after the medal matches. But we'll trust Nomad's math and if you add those eight points to Russia total they would jump ahead with the scores being 133-130 in favor of the Russian Federation. 

Day 3, Session 2

We'll start off with a quick round of semis. Kyle Snyder will wrestle Pavlo Oliinyk of Hungary. Originally a Ukrainian, Oliinyk was actually Snyder's first opponent at the 2015 world championships. Captain America won that one 2-1, on the strength of two shot clock points while Oliinyk forced a stepout.

Gazimagomedov makes the finals, giving Russia 143 for the tournament. Sadulaev techs Odikadze, giving the Russians 153 overall. They need to win two out of three to clinch the title.

Snyder has made his fourth world or Olympic final in a row! Round two against Sadulaev happens tomorrow.

Time for medal rounds, both countries have three going but there are no head-to-heads.

Gilman tried to storm back late, but ultimately fell 5-4 to Atli of Turkey. That leaves the scores as 153-140, meaning any Russian win closes it out. A caution+1 with under 15 seconds to go gives Uguev a gold medal and Russia the team title.

That match may have sealed the deal for the Russians but there was still plenty to cheer about in Budapest for any American fans. Kyle Dake and J'den Cox went back to back champs, giving Team USA three guaranteed gold medals, the most since 1995, when Team USA took home 4 gold, which Snyder has a chance to do tomorrow. 

No matter what happens in that match, this 2018 will go down as one of the best. The 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s all accomplished some legendary results, and it's nice to have back-to-back years with results that can stand up with the best in American history.

Below is the team pints minimums and maximum with only 70 and 97 kg medal matches left to be contested. 

The top three teams are now locked in place, Russia, USA and Georgia, in that order. Japan could theoretically climb ahead of Iran based on the final placement of Yamaguchi, their 97 kilogrammer, but I'm pretty sure if you did all the math he'd be out of the top 10. 

Azerbaijan had an unmitigated disaster of a tournament. They wrestled Team USA to a close 6-4 dual meet at the World Cup but did not show up well here in Budapest. 

Other teams whose scores I wasn't keeping track of but will probably finish in the top 10 include Cuba, who have 52, and Mongolia, who have 41 points.

Tomorrow we wrap up the men's freestyle tournament and tabulate the final scores!

FINAL TEAM SCORES

This one doesn't need much explanation. Russia won twice in the final two gold medal matches and Team USA lost once. 

Below are the final rankings for every team that scored points at the 2018 Senior World Championships in freestyle wrestling.

And here is how the top ten teams did, broken out by weight class. 

It's been an exciting tournament. Team USA didn't accomplish all of its goals but that had a pretty amazing performance nonetheless. Time to prepare for next year. #AstanaWrestle2018!