EDMONTON –The 2022 Canadian Wrestling Trials are set to get underway next week (May 26-29) in Edmonton, Alberta, at the University of Alberta. Hundreds of wrestlers will descend on the ‘city of champions’ for the Trials as new victors will look to be crowned in senior (20+), U20-junior (18-20) and U17-cadet (16-17) age divisions for Women’s Wrestling, Men’s Freestyle and Men’s Greco-Roman.

In total, there are 80 weight classes split between the three age groups.  The Trials are used to determine international teams for continental, world championships and multi-sport games, such as the upcoming 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.

“The Friends of the World Cup of Wrestling Society (event host organizing committee) is pleased to welcome the best wrestlers in Canada to Edmonton on the 30th anniversary of our organization,” said J.J. Kennedy, Chair, Friends of the World Cup of Wrestling Society. “After the last two years, our volunteers are so excited to have the athletes, coaches, officials and spectators participate in this inaugural Canadian Wrestling Trials to determine the 2022 National Champions and the representatives to this year’s World Championships.”

The event begins on May 26^th with cadet matches being contested. On May 27^th, the junior women’s and men’s freestyle events will take place. May 28^th sees the senior women’s and men’s freestyle events in action. Finally, the Trials wrap up on May 29^th with junior and senior Greco-Roman wrestling.

There will be plenty of star power at the Trials including the five athletes who picked up gold earlier this month at the 2022 Senior Pan-American Games in Acapulco, Mexico. That includes the two champions from the men’s side Surrey, B.C.’s Amar Dhesi and Calgary’s Emmanuel Olapade.

The three senior women’s gold medalists will also be competing as Montreal’s Laurence Beauregard, Surrey’s Karla Godinez Gonzalez and Surrey’s Ana Godinez Gonzalez will look to cement their place as the country’s best in their respective weight divisions.

In addition, numerous past world champions will take part on the women’s side including 2018 U23 world champion Toronto’s Alexandria Town, 2018 world champion Coquitlam, B.C.’s Justina Di Stasio, and 2019 world champion Tecumseh, Ontario’s Linda Morais.

Wrestling gets underway at the University of Alberta Universiade Pavilion (Butterdome) with qualifying sessions at 9:30 a.m. on all four days with finals and medal presentations scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on May 26^th and 27^th, 6:45p.m. on May 28^th and 1:30 p.m. on May 29^th. Spectators are welcome to attend any of the sessions. Please visit our website for a link to the livestream: https://wrestling.ca/event/2022-canadian-wrestling-trials/.