Lilledahl makes finals, Aiello, Thomas going for bronze at 2025 Polyák Imre & Varga János Memorial

BUDAPEST, Hungary – The U.S. pushed three athletes to the medal rounds during the opening session of the Polyák Imre & Varga János Memorial, the fourth UWW Ranking Series event of the season. Luke Lilledahl will compete for the 57 kg gold medal, while Jay Aiello and Demetrius Thomas both landed in a bronze medal match in the upper weights.

Lilledahl, the Final X runner-up and reigning U20 World champion, picked up a pair of solid wins over experienced competitors. He opened with a 4-2 decision against Germany’s Niklas Stechele, who was fifth at the 2025 European Championships. In the semifinals, Lilledahl took down India’s 2019 U23 Asian champion Rahul, 7-6.

For the championship, Lilledahl will face Islam Bazarganov of Azerbaijan, who has earned back-to-back bronze medals at the European championships. It’ll be a strong test for the upstart American.

At 97 kg, Aiello dropped his opener to two-time Olympian Zbigniew Baranowski of Poland on criteria, 6-6. He battled back from a 4-0 deficit in the repechage to pin India’s Vicky in 5:25 and book a spot in the bronze medal round. Vicky is the current U23 Asian champion and was a bronze medalist at last year’s U23 World Championships.

Thomas advanced to the 125 kg semifinals with two strong wins to start the day—a 5:47 pin against Efe Anil Al of Turkey and a 7-2 decision on Georgi Lyubomirov Ivanov of Bulgaria. His championship-side run came up short in the semis to four-time age-group World medalist and Olympian Dzianis Khramiankou, 13-1.

Bronze medal match draws for Team USA feature Korea’s Juhwan Seo against Aiello and Poland’s Robert Baran against Thomas. Seo doesn’t boast any notable international credentials to date. Baran was fifth at last year’s Olympic Games.

U.S. World Team member Levi Haines posted a 1-1 record at 70 kg and was not pulled into the repechage rounds. He looked strong in a five-point win against Khidir Kurban A Saipudinov of Bahrain before falling 7-3 to Olympian Georgios Kougioumtsidis of Greece in the quarterfinals.

Also in the mix for Team USA on Thursday were Seth Gross at 61 kg, Brandon Cannon at 70 kg and Trent Hillger at 125 kg. All three came up short of a medal match.

The first batch of men’s freestyle medal matches are set for 11 a.m. (ET) today.

The action from Budapest is available to watch for the U.S. market through FloWrestling. Brackets and match-by-match results can be found on UWW Arena.