UWW men’s and women’s freestyle wrestling world cup competitions coming to Xtream Arena
The world’s best men’s and women’s freestyle wrestlers are coming back to the Iowa City-Coralville area.
The Men’s and Women’s Freestyle World Cups, United World Wrestling’s international dual-meet championship events, will be held at Coralville’s Xtream Arena on December 10-11.
United World Wrestling, the sport’s international governing body, awarded the premier global competitions to USA Wrestling for both 2022 and 2023, and USA Wrestling then chose Xtream Arena, which has hosted statewide, regional and national wrestling competitions since it opened in September 2020, as the host for both years.
“We couldn’t be more honored to be the community chosen to set the bar for how this event should look and run,” said Josh Schamberger, president of Think Iowa City. “And quite honestly, we aim for that bar to actually never be reached outside of Iowa City, Iowa, which is Wrestling Town, USA.”
This will be the 31st time the United States has hosted the Men’s Freestyle World Cup, the most of any nation. In 2018, the event was held at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The United States won that year, defeating Azerbaijan in the final.
This will be the first time the U.S. has hosted the Women’s Freestyle World Cup, and this will also be the first time both events will run together, side-by-side.
“I can’t think of a better place to host these events than in the state of Iowa,” said Terry Steiner, USA Wrestling’s national women’s coach, “and in the Iowa City/Coralville community. I know that this community appreciates great wrestling.”
Both competitions will feature six teams: the top five countries from each year's Senior World Championships, plus an "all-world" team comprised of the best athletes whose countries finished outside the top five in their respective team races.
The 2022 Senior World Championships are set for September 11-18 in Belgrade, Serbia. The 2023 Senior World Championships are set for September 16-24 in Krasnoyarsk, Russia.
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“We are extremely pleased that we will showcase the world’s best men’s and women’s freestyle wrestlers in the same location,” USA Wrestling executive director Rich Bender said. “The atmosphere will be electric and fans will not want to miss this action.
“USA Wrestling is excited to once again bring one of the most important wrestling competitions on the planet to the Coralville/Iowa City community, which is truly an international wrestling hotbed.”
Xtream Arena has quickly become a go-to spot for major wrestling competitions.
In the last year, it’s hosted the Division III national championships, sponsored by the National Wrestling Coaches Association; the U.S. Senior national championships; the U.S. Junior world team trials; and the Dan Gable Donnybrook, a new high school competition.
This coming weekend, Xtream Arena will host the 2022 Iowa girls state wrestling championships, sponsored by the Iowa Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association, where 741 Iowa girls are expected to compete. It also has hosted USA Wrestling’s girls folkstyle national championships.
Schamberger and Luke Eustice have led the organizing committee for each event, as well as the 2018 World Cup and both the 2012 and 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials held at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Their expertise was such that they were called to help with the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials in Fort Worth, Texas, last spring.
Schamberger and Eustice were the masters behind combining the Men’s and Women’s Freestyle World Cups into a single event — so much so that they went to United World Wrestling’s headquarters in Switzerland to pitch the idea.
If not for the COVID-19 pandemic, this event may have come to Coralville sooner.
“The Iowa City Area Sports Commission has made significant investments into girls and women’s wrestling this past decade,” Schamberger said. “In so many ways, this combined World Cup is an extension of this effort.
“This inaugural Men’s and Women’s Freestyle World Cup will reverberate across the wrestling globe.”
Tickets for the general public for the 2022 Men’s and Women’s Freestyle World Cup will go on sale on Friday, February 4, at 10 a.m. CT. Seating capacity for Xtream Arena for the event will be approximately 5,300. Schamberger and his team expect tickets to go fast.
Cody Goodwin covers wrestling and high school sports for the Des Moines Register. Follow him on Twitter at @codygoodwin.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Xtream Arena to host men's, women's wrestling world cups in December
