Mason Parris is at the top of his game! More than a month after the 125kg Michigan wrestler defeated Hayden Zilmer to become the Olympic Team Trials Champion in his category, he has now added another feather to his cap. At the 2024 Polyak Imre & Varga Janos Memorial, the last ranking series competition of the year, Mason recently competed against a lineup of renowned wrestlers. Getting a foretaste of the opposition ahead of Paris, this tournament was crucial for him, providing takeaways worth etching to memory.

However, the fact that he continued the streak of steamrolling his competitors at this event too remains the most consequential. It indeed affirms Team USA’s chances to attain Olympic glory soon.

Mason Parris’ Olympic debut: a sure shot hit?

As per one of USA Wrestling’s latest X posts, Mason Parris has ‘topped the heavyweight podium’ at the recent contest in Budapest. It also displays a candid capture from the 125kg senior men’s freestyle wrestling final between Parris and Kazakhstan’s Yusup Batirmurzaev. Showing him smiling as opposed to his pinned down opponent, the snippet testifies to Parris having the upper hand in the ultimate match.

The caption further illuminates that Parris maintained ‘a pristine 3-0 record’ in the contest. Therefore, the winning momentum was indeed built by Parris right from the start. His opening match was against Givi Matcharashvili from Georgia, a contemporary wrestler with a punched ticket to Paris. Defeating his brawny opponent with a 9-2, the American wrestler made his victory look effortless.

After that, with another win by a whopping 10-0 margin, Parris made outshining his competitors on the international mats look like a walk in the park. This time, he had defeated Jonovan Smith, another face slated to make a Paris appearance this year.

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And certainly, Parris’ back-to-back wins seem no fortune-favored hits. They speak volumes about the wrestler’s sheer proficiency in the sport. In fact, given that he outshined in a ranking series group that featured all seasoned sportsmen was quite spectacular. However, another aspect made the Budapest showdown a fine Olympic practice session for Mason Parris. But what is that?

An Olympic wrestling preview in Hungary

Nearly half of those who qualified for the Paris Olympics attended the 2024 Polyak Imre & Varga Janos Memorial. From this outlook, Mason Parris has gotten the better of almost 50 percent of his Olympic competition, and that too, with massive margins. These results surely make his chances to ace his Paris debut look quite promising.

However, Parris is yet to show his mettle against his Geno Petriashvili, a 2X Olympic medalist. Although Geno partook in this tournament, he did not have a one-on-one match against the Michigan star. But, every time these two, seeded second and third are up against each other, the energy surge gets real and the clash is intense. One such tight contest between them was the 2023 World Championships semifinals, where Petriashvili edged Parris out with an 8-6 win.

And while Mason Parris has outperformed in this contest, the question remains if he can live up to the expectations on the Olympic platform too. Can he materialize his exalted “Parris with the gold in Paris” dreams? What do you think?