2021 World Championship Rankings - Men's Freestyle

65 - Vazgen Tevanyan

All of the Olympic medalists at 65kg are reportedly not competing at the 2021 World Championships. This leaves the door wide open for a number of competitors to challenge for world gold. 

Armenia’s Vazgen Tevanyan takes the top ranking based on his performance at the 2020 World Cup and 2021 European Olympic Qualifying Tournament. At the world cup Tevanyan defeated Ismail Musukaev in the finals and at the European Qualifier he took out Vladimer Khinchegashvili, Magomedmurad Gadzhiev and Haji Aliyev. 

Though it hasn’t been confirmed, expect Zagir Shakhiev to represent Russia at 65kg. Shakhiev is one of Russia’s most promising young stars and won the European Championships in April 2021. Prior to that he placed second at 2021 Russian Nationals and bronze at 2020 Russian Nationals where he took out past world/Olympic champion Soslan Ramonov.

Though Yianni Diakomihalis doesn’t have many results over the field at 65kg, he does have success internationally at the senior level and should be considered a threat to medal/win gold at the world championships. Diakomihalis has won 5 senior level tournaments since 2019 and has only won gold at international competitions.