Jake Varner earned a win over Russia in May's Beat the Streets Dual in New York City. Larry Slater photo.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Jake Varner is considered one of the top medal contenders for the U.S. at this year’s World Championships.

Varner, 25, was a quarterfinalist at the 2009 Worlds in Denmark, and he has made significant improvement and gains in his freestyle wrestling since then.

Varner, who grew up in Bakersfield, Calif., will compete at next month’s World Championships at 96 kg/211.5 lbs. in Istanbul, Turkey.

His former college coach and mentor, 2004 Olympic gold medalist Cael Sanderson, will compete alongside Varner at the Worlds. Sanderson, 32, back after nearly seven years away from competition, will compete at 84 kg/185 lbs. at the Worlds.

Varner and Sanderson train together at the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club in State College, Pa., where Sanderson is the head coach at Penn State. Sanderson coached Varner at the 2009 World Championships.

The powerful, 6-foot-1 Varner recently won the Ion Corneanu Memorial in Romania. He also placed second in the New York AC International and fifth in the Ivan Yarygin event in Russia this season.

Varner, a two-time NCAA champion and four-time finalist for Iowa State, sat down for an interview with USA Wrestling’s Craig Sesker on Friday afternoon at the U.S. Olympic Training Center.

You are preparing for your second World Championships in the past three years. How has your preparation been going for this year’s event?

Training’s been going really good. We have a great situation out at Penn State where we are doing the right things out there. I already know what to expect after being in the Worlds in 2009. I know what I’ve got to do to get ready. Missing out last year, that kind of lit the fire to make the team again.

You had some success at the Worlds during your first trip in 2009. What did you learn that can help you this time around?

You have to learn from your losses obviously, and I think I’ve done that. You have to change some things up, whether you want to or not. I worked on a lot of areas I felt I needed to work on and my coaches thought I needed to work on. We’ve changed some things and I think that’s made a difference for me.

You’ve had good success this year internationally. How much has that helped?

It’s good to always have success over there. It’s kind of like college, where everything throughout the year is preparation for the NCAA tournament. This is the same way internationally, where it is preparation for the World Championships or the Olympic Games. It’s good to have that success and see where you are at.

You are bigger and stronger than you were when you wrestled in the 2009 Worlds. How much more physical are you now than you were two years ago?

That’s how I’ve always wrestled, being physical out there. You just try to step it up year after year. You always get better each year.

You have trained alongside Cael Sanderson during your college career and internationally. What is it like now that you are both training for the World Championships?

It’s pretty awesome. It’s exciting. I was excited when he went out and wrestled at the World Team Trials. I was right there watching every match he wrestled. I actually got kind of nervous because we are real good friends. I want him to win as much as he does and vice versa. I’m real excited to be able to wrestle with him. Not everybody gets that kind of chance, to wrestle with their coach. He’s going to do really well at the Worlds.

How well can Sanderson do in Turkey?

In my opinion, he’s going to be hard to beat. I think he will win the World Championships. I wrestle with him every day, and I do know what he’s capable of doing. He’s going to do awesome.

How exciting is that for the sport to see someone of Sanderson’s caliber come back?

Everybody was excited to see him back. You could tell that by how people really got into the matches at the Trials. It’s a good thing for the sport and hopefully it will boost some of the up-and-comers who want to be World and Olympic champions.

You are one of three Nittany Lion Wrestling Club members on the World Team along with Sanderson and Teyon Ware. What is it like to be a part of that club?

We have a great situation out there. We have nine guys training that are out of college. You have tough workouts every day. Plus there are a lot of tough college kids who were on the team that just won the NCAA title. They help us and we help them.

How exciting is it with the Olympic Games less than a year away?

It seems like just yesterday I was wrestling in the 2008 Olympic Trials. I barely missed out on making the team that year, and then you think, man, I’ve got to wait another four years for another shot. But now it’s almost here again. Time flies. You put next year in the back of your head because you are thinking about the World Championships. I’m excited about having an opportunity to make the Olympic Team next year. That’s my goal, to be an Olympic champ.

When did you first think about the Olympics as a realistic goal?

In junior high, I started thinking about it. I knew that was the highest level of wrestling you can go to. Wrestling was the sport I wanted to do in high school and college. When I was in junior high, I set a goal of being a World and Olympic champion.

What do you remember about watching wrestling in the Olympics as you were growing up?

I remember the day Cael won the Olympics in 2004. I remember when his finals match came on and I was watching it on TV. It was real late at night. I was excited and nervous. There was a U.S. guy out there wrestling and watching him win was a neat experience. It gave me a boost. I wanted to do that and I wanted to know what winning the Olympics felt like.

Morgan McIntosh, the No. 1 recruit in the country, is headed to Penn State and will compete collegiately at 197 pounds. What are your impressions of McIntosh?

The kid’s the real deal. He’s tough and real mature. He loves to wrestle. I think he’s going to do great in college and post-college. He’s going to fit right in at Penn State. We are excited to get him out there.

How well can the U.S. team do at the Worlds this year?

I think we can do really well. All of our guys up and down the lineup have beaten tough guys. A lot of our guys have beaten World medalists and World champions. Everyone is going to be prepared and ready to go. Everyone just has to be on their game when we get over there.

You were in Russia last year for the 2010 Worlds as a training partner. What did you take from that experience?

It sucked, I won’t sugar coat it. It wasn’t fun, not being out there competing. It was tough seeing someone else win your weight class when you think you can win it. It motivated me. I watched as much wrestling as I could. You pick up things when you watch the matches. I didn’t want to be put in that position again, where you have to sit and watch and not be able to wrestle in that tournament.