Stevan Micic’s thoughts bounced around the globe in recent days as he weighed the magnitude of winning a World title and what it means for his wrestling career moving into 2024. 

The former Michigan great reflected on two years ago in Tokyo when he entered the Olympics as the #1 seed at 57 kilograms but got bounced from the tournament after an opening-round 7-0 loss to Japan’s Yuki Takahashi. 

And Micic allowed himself to look ahead to next summer in Paris when he’ll have a shot at Olympic redemption, likely once again as a tournament favorite. 

By completing an incredible run through the bracket and knocking off three past World champions along the way, Micic checked off two primary objectives this week in Belgrade — he became Serbia’s first freestyle World champion and he also qualified the country at 57 kg for next summer’s Olympic Games in Paris.  

“Before the tournament, it was actually pretty tough to put this all into perspective,” Micic said. “I wanted to not think as much (about) Paris as I did this tournament. But everybody’s here — all the best wrestlers are here now. There’s no excuses that Russia wasn’t here, and I guess when it comes down to it, I was just so locked in on that that I didn’t think anything of the Olympics. I just kept progressing and doing such a good job in my matches that it was just like, ‘Hey, you’re here for the Games.’ Paris is something that — I know I’m going to need some time off now — it’s something I’m going to need to assess, because Tokyo didn’t go the way I wanted it to. I felt sick and I didn’t manage my weight very well. 

“Now this is two times I’ve made weight (since) and medaled at 57 — a bronze (at the 2022 World Championships) and a gold — so I really have to make sure that we do the proper training for Paris. This is another chance and it may not happen again, so I’ve got to make this count.” 

Micic was one of three NCAA All-Americans who earned Olympic quotas for other countries. His college teammate, Myles Amine, secured another spot in the Games for San Marino with a bronze at 86 kilograms and Sebastian Rivera snagged a 65-kilogram spot for Puerto Rico with his silver medal in Belgrade. 

The United States secured men’s freestyle quotas at four of the six Olympic weights. The Americans will be represented next summer in Paris at 74 kg, 86 kg, 97 kg and 125 kg, but they still have work to do to get into the tournament at 57 kg and 65 kg. Their next opportunity to qualify for the Olympics comes Feb. 29-March 2 at the Pan-Am Olympic Games Qualifier in Mexico. 

Rivera would have been part of that field if he hadn’t secured a quota in Belgrade, but his dramatic, last-second comeback win in the semifinals assured him of a medal and took him out of the Pan Am Olympic Qualifier bracket. 

Micic and Amine won’t have to go through their continental qualifier, either. 

In 2021, Amine became the first San Marino wrestler to compete in the Olympics and he turned that debut performance into a bronze medal in Tokyo. In recent weeks, he’d been hearing from family members who were eager to book travel plans for Paris. He gave them the green light after an 8-5 win against Uzbekistan’s Javrail Shapiev in the 86-kilogram bronze medal bout in Belgrade. 

“There was more to the match than just getting the qualification,” Amine said. “I have an Olympic bronze medal and I’m so excited to go back to the Olympics, but World wrestling matters just as much to me. I’m thinking in my head, ‘Who cares about the Olympics right now? Let’s get your first World medal right here.’ I never really had experience on the Cadet or Junior or U23 stage, so I never really had a chance to go to those, so this is my first World medal and that’s exciting.”