OTTAWA— Wrestling Canada Lutte (WCL) is pleased to announce the athletes who will represent Canada at the 2023 Senior World Championships, September 16-24 in Belgrade, Serbia.

Heading into an Olympic year, this year’s World Championships are even more important. Any wrestler who earns a top-five finish, in one of the Olympic weight classes, will qualify the weight class for the country for the Paris 2024 Games.

“The 2023 Senior World Championships is shaping up to be one the most difficult tournaments of all time. With this being the first Olympic Qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics, every competitor is vying for an Olympic berth for their nation,” said Chris Woodcroft, WCL High Performance Director. “In Women’s Wrestling, six of Canada’s ten competitors figure to be seeded in the top eight of their respective weight classes. That includes defending bronze medalist Karla Godinez Gonzalez, who will be the top seed at 55kg. In Men’s Freestyle, the depth is even greater, and our men will need to perform at their absolute best to earn an Olympic berth.”

Canada enters the tournament following excellent results in the four 2023 United World Wrestling (UWW) ranking series events, along with the most recent European tour. While all the members of Team Canada will be extremely motivated to qualify their weight class, one who will be making an extra push will be Burnaby B.C.’s Justina Di Stasio. The Burnaby Mountain Wrestling Club member has accomplished everything in the sport of wrestling, expect compete at an Olympics. Di Stasio is a former World Champion (2018), Pan-Am Games Champion (2019), and Commonwealth Games Champion (2022). Di Stasio will look to take the next step towards Paris 2024 at the World Championships in the 76kg weight class.

One of Canada’s rising stars on the women’s side that will also be looking to get closer to Paris will be Surrey, B.C.’s Ana Godinez Gonzalez. Godinez Gonzalez, who also trains out of Burnaby Mountain Wrestling Club, was the U23 World Champion in 2021 at 62kg. Since then, she has added a Commonwealth Games (2022) silver medal, U23 World (2022) bronze medal and Pan-American Championships (2023) gold medal to her collection. Godinez Gonzalez will aim to continue her momentum in Belgrade.

On the men’s side one wrestler who has been making waves, especially in the NCAA, is North York, Ontario’s Lachlan McNeil. McNeil, who currently wrestles for the University of North Carolina Tarheels and calls Team Impact his Canadian club, had a strong season south of the border. McNeil finished third at the ACC Championships and fourth at the NCAA Championships, earning All-American status.  He is a past Commonwealth Games silver medalist (2022) and has won gold at both the Junior (2021) and Cadet (2016, 2017) Pan-Am Championships. He will compete at 65kg.

Also on the men’s side will be Abbotsford, B.C.’s Nishan Randhawa. The Burnaby Mountain Wrestling Club product took bronze earlier this year at the Pan-American Championships and was the Commonwealth Games Champion (2022) at 97kg. He will be looking to find success at the Worlds, something that has eluded him so far in his career.

2023 Senior World Championships Team

Joining the athletes will be the coaching and support staff. The group includes training partners – Stone Lewis, Diana Weicker, Mia Friesen, and Katie Mulkay; coaches – Dave Collie, David Zilberman, Dave McKay, Raj Virdi, Tony Ramos, Dave Spinney, Owen Dawkins, Drew Foster, Troy Steiner, and Randy Smith; team leaders Chris Woodcroft and Kale Whitton; athletic therapist – Surinder Budwal, and registered massage therapist – Rick Tkach. Ed Zinger and Marcia Chiasson will also represent Canada as officials.

For complete tournament information, including schedule, brackets and live stream visit the tournament website at: uww.org