Thomas Gilman, 57kg

Logan Stieber, 61kg

J'Den Cox, 86kg

Nick Gwiazdowski, 125kg

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Bracket reactions for the first day of men's freestyle at the 2017 World Championships in Paris, France. Below are the complete brackets, as well as draw analysis, for 57kg Thomas Gilman (Titan Mercury/Hawkeye WC), 61kg Logan Stieber (Titan Mercury/Ohio RTC), 86kg J'Den Cox (Titan Mercury/Missouri Wrestling Foundation) and 125kg Nick Gwiazdowski (Titan Mercury/Wolfpack WC)Gilman starts off with Andrey Yatsenko (UKR), who just last year lost to Daton Fix at junior worlds. Next up he'll see Reza Atri (IRI), the replacement for injured 2013 world champ Hassan Rahimi.This year, Yatsenko won the International Ukrainian Tournament and was bronze at the U23 European championships. He does not appear in the latest international FloRankings at 57kg . When Gilman won his junior world bronze in 2014, Yatsenko won a Cadet world title.Atri won a bronze medal at this year's Asian championships, but his only previous world championship experience was at the 2015 Military Games (bronze) and 2014 Juniors, where he lost to Gilman 4-4 on criteria in the quarterfinals. He also does not appear in our rankings.That wold put Gilman in the quarterfinals. The smart money would seem to favor No. 8 Makhir Amiraslanov (AZE), who finished above his first round opponent Nodir Safarov (UZB) at the Islamic Solidarity Games, and has better results than Asadulla Lacinau (BLR). Safarov lost to Tyler Graff in the Dave Schultz finals.Silver. There's no one on the top half of the bracket that Gilman can't beat, and the scariest potential guy is Hakjin Jong of North Korea, who there is more tape on than many of the other guys in this bracket.Well, nothing comes easy in this weight. The top seed draws No. 4 Gadzhimurad Rashidov (RUS) first round. Rashidov is finally on a senior world team after winning three age level world medals. The U23 European champ has grown into the weight and should be as big if not bigger than Logan.Once the reigning world champ gets through that match, he'll have Olympic gold medalist and top-ranked Vladimer Khinchegashvili (GEO). Rashidov is No. 4 and Khinchegashvili No. 1 in our international FloRankings. Time and time again, we have seen Khinchegashvili get put in a hole early only to mount an incredible comeback. He is one of the most unflappable wrestlers in the world, but so is Stieber. Anyone who watched his world title run in December knows that.Stieber has never wrestled Rashidov or Khinchegashvili.Bronze. Stieber re-lives Beat the Streets and defeats Cengizhan Erdogan (TUR), formerly Opan Sat of Russia.Just about every other good guy is on the top half and the three-time NCAA champ is on the bottom half. Although the Olympic bronze medalist did not get seeded, we have every reason to believe that, barring an injury, Cox should cruise to the finals. The biggest hurdle could be No. 19 Yurieski Torreblanca in the semis.The other side starts with Olympic gold medalist Hassan Yazdanicharati (IRI), moving up in weight from last year. He is an absolute Tasmanian devil on the mat who tore through the Islamic Solidarity Games, including techs over Selim Yasar (TUR) and Sharif Sharfov (AZE). It is likely for that reason Azerbaijan sent Aleksandr Gostiyev. David Khutsishvili also beat Sharifov, so Euro runner-up Gostiyev may present an unfamiliar challenge. Khutsishvili was 2011 Euro bronze down at 74kg.Yasar always does better during the year, and his first tough test will be Vladislav Valiev (RUS). Valiev was somewhat of a surprise winner at Russian Nationals.Gold. Many in American thought Cox could win gold last year, but not never got a shot at Sadulaev. The top half is an absolute war zone and the semi winner may have nothing left to give.Great way to start the tournament with Andrei Romanov (MDA), whose only notable accomplishment is a Junior Euro silver ten years ago. He'll then hit four seed Daniel Ligeti (HUN), who won the Waclaw Ziolkowski Memorial but then did not place at the Spanish Grand Prix. Ligeti lost to Canada's backup in Spain, so Gwiz should be looking strong heading into the quarters.There are a few options of who Gwiz could see in those quarterfinals, but it seems like Alan Zasieiev (UKR) is the most likely candidate. Though Zasieiev's best days may be behind him, he was the silver medalist as recently as 2013. He enters ranked 4th in the FloRankings , but looked vulnerable after a 5th place finish in Romania last month for his tune-up tournament. The hope is that Zasieiev gets tired out by human mountain Davit Modzmanasvhili, formerly of Georgia but now with Uzbekistan, though he may of course lose.The 31-year-old Modzmanashvili was the Olympic silver medalist in London in 2012, and beat Zasieiev two years ago in the Medved finals. He has multiple wins over fellow Georgian Geno Petriashvili, but has not competed in two years and could be a bit long in the tooth by now. With Tervel Dlagnev here, who has wrestled Modzmanashvili multiple times, the coaching staff will have a top notch game plan in order.Should Gwiz navigate all that, he'll get the world's No. 3 pound-for-pound wrestler in Taha Akgul (TUR), the three-time defending world and Olympic champion.Bronze. The key match is 653, the quarterfinal with one of Uzbekistan/Georgia/Iran. If Gwiz wins those, he's in fantastic position to medal.Sign up for the FloWrestling newsletter for instant access to: breaking news, live events, results, rankings, archived matches and more!