Aaron Brooks' 86Kg Freestyle Bracket at Paris Olympics 2024: Exploring Penn State wrestler's road to maiden Olympic medal

Aaron Brooks is one of the prominent names who will represent the USA in the men’s freestyle wrestling at the 2024 Paris Olympics. He has been qualified to compete in the 86kg weight class at the quadrennial event.

Brooks’ campaign in Paris starts on August 8 with his Round of 16 match being scheduled against the top-seeded wrestler Azamat Dauletbekov from Kazakhstan. Dauletbekov, a two-time World Championships bronze medalist and three-time Asian Championships gold medalist, might pose a significant challenge for the American.

If the four-time NCAA champion wins the bout, he will face either Japan’s Hayato Ishiguro or Algeria’s Fateh Benferdjallah in the next round.

Once Aaron Brooks advances further, he will likely face the challenge from Magomed Ramazanov, two-time Pan American Championships medalist Alex Moore of Canada, the 2023 World Championships silver medalist Vladimeri Gamkrelidze, or the fourth-seeded Javrail Shapiev from Uzbekistan.

However, some of the top competitors Brooks may face on his path to gold if he qualifies for the gold-medal match, include two-time Olympic medalist Hassan Yazdani from Iran, who also won gold in the Rio Olympics in the men’s 74kg, three-time World Championships medalist Osman Nurmagomedov, and Tokyo Olympics medalist Myles Amine.

The qualification (Round of 16) match is slated to begin from 11:30 AM Paris Time/ 5:30 AM Eastern Time onwards, which will be followed by the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, the semifinals for the event will take place from 6:15 PM Paris Time/ 12:15 PM Eastern Time onwards on the same day, i.e., Aug 8.

The finals and repechage rounds are scheduled on the next day, i.e., Aug 9 from 11:00 AM Paris Time/ 05:00 AM Eastern Time onwards and 7:30 PM Paris Time/ 1:30 PM Eastern Time onwards, respectively.

Aaron Brooks’ road to Paris Olympics 2024

Aaron Brooks in the Men's Freestyle 86kg Championship Finals of the Olympic Wrestling Team Trials 2024. (Photo by Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

At the 2024 U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials, Aaron Brooks defeated the 2020 Tokyo Olympics gold medalist and three-time world champion David Taylor to make it to the USA team for the Paris Olympics.

He got past Taylor by 2-0 (3-1, 4-1) in the Best-of-Three Championship series to qualify for his maiden Olympic Games. Some of Brooks’ other top achievements are being a four-time NCAA champion, being an U23 World Champion in 2023, and Cadet World Champion in 2017.