(Ottawa, ON) – Canada’s best wrestlers will compete December 4-6, 2015 in Strathcona County for the opportunity to represent Wrestling Canada Lutte at international qualifying events to qualify their weight class and be nominated to compete for Canada at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

The event, which will take place at Millennium Place in Strathcona County, Alberta, will feature about 100 wrestlers in Women’s Freestyle, Men’s Freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling.

With the best in Canada in attendance, two weight classes are already qualified for the Rio Olympic Summer Games based on great 2015 Senior World Championships performances. Genevieve Morrison, the recent 2015 Pan Am Games Champion, won in the 48 KG quarter-final in Las Vegas, resulting in an Olympic qualification. The Dinos Wrestling Club wrestler went on to win Canada’s only medal, a bronze, at the 2015 Senior World Championships. Braxton Stone-Papadopoulos, also a 2015 Pan Am Games Champion, qualified the second weight class (63 KG) for the Olympics by winning her quarter-final match at the 2015 Vegas Worlds. Additional entries and recent champions of note include 2015 Pan Am Games Champion, 2014 Commonwealth Games Champion, Dorothy Yeats in the 69 kg division, 2014 Commonwealth Games Champion Korey Jarvis (125 KG) and 2014 Commonwealth Games Champion Erica Wiebe (75 KG).

“The Olympic dream will be one step closer to being realized for two of our athletes at the conclusion of this event. Based on the 2015 Senior World Championship qualifications, the Team Trials winners in the women’s 48 and 63 kg weight classes will be nominated ot the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) for inclusion on the 2016 Olympic Team,” says Wrestling Canada Lutte Executive Director Tamara Medwidsky. “The ‘Road to Rio’ will continue following the Trials, with the Trials winners aiming to qualify their respective weight classes at the three remaining qualifying tournaments.”

The first Olympic qualifying event was the 2015 Senior World Championship. Following the trials, remaining weight classes will have three additional opportunities for international qualification events, which include:

• Pan American Olympic qualifying tournament, March 4-6, 2016 (Frisco, USA) – top two in each style and weight class qualify.
• The 1^st Olympic Games World qualifying tournament, April 22-24, 2016 (Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia) – top three male and top two females in each style and weight-class qualify.
• The 2^nd (and final) Olympic Games qualifying tournament, May 6–8, 2016 (Istanbul, Turkey) – top two in each style and weight class qualify.

In London for the 2012 Olympic Games, nine wrestlers, four women and five men, qualified and competed for Canada. Wrestling Canada Lutte hopes to equal that number for the 2016 Games with six women and three men qualifying Rio.

The Strathcona County trials competition will begin on December 4, 2015. Freestyle finals for men and women will take place on December 5, 2015 and the competition will end on December 6, 2015 with the Greco-Roman finals. The tournament format will be a single elimination pool tournament followed by a ladder tournament, based on results from 2015 Senior Canadian Championships. A complete schedule can be found at: https://wrestling.ca/teams/canadian-wrestling-team-trials, and the trials ladder rankings available at: 2015 Trials Ladder Rankings.

For the Olympic wrestling trials event, Canadian wrestling fans will have the option of viewing the event by webcast at http://sportscanada.tv/wrestlingcanada/. Please check the site in the coming days for schedules and pay-per-view pricing.

“Wrestling Canada Lutte is excited to launch the webcasting portal and offer a webcasting feed for the Strathcona County event,” says Medwidsky. “We strive to provide new opportunities for supporters to see the best in Canada and to support their favourites.”

In addition to the webcast stream, live tweets, photos, Facebook posts and updates can be linked to at www.wrestling.ca. For those able to attend the event, passes are on sale now for $25 and can be purchased by emailing [email protected] or by calling 780-467-2211.

Wrestling Canada Lutte thanks the event hosts and organizing committee including the Friends of the World Cup of Wrestling Society and Strathcona County, as well as provincial wrestling partner, Alberta Amateur Wrestling Association.