Snyder wins fourth World Championships, Woods reels in bronze medal

ZAGREB, Croatia – For the fourth time in a decade, Kyle Snyder took the top spot on the World Championships podium.

The 97 kg men’s freestyle final between Snyder and Iran’s Amirali Azarpira was a retread of the bronze match from last year’s Olympic Games in Paris. Azarpira took the win in Paris but was not up to the task today in Zagreb.

It was a one-point Snyder lead entering the second period thanks to a shot clock point. Azarpira netted a crafty takedown from Snyder’s pressure early in the second frame to grab the advantage. In vintage Snyder fashion, he pressed on, scoring the match-deciding point on a single leg, step out with eight seconds left in the match. Once a challenge from the Iranian corner, post-buzzer, was unsuccessful, Snyder breathed a sigh of relief. He completed the comeback mission.

Snyder ties John Smith in second-place all-time for men’s freestyle World titles won by an American at four, two shy of Jordan Burroughs’ record six World gold medals. Snyder now owns eight Senior World medals (four gold, two silver and one bronze) and two Olympic medals (one gold, one silver) dating back to his first World Championships in 2015. Snyder’s previous World title years were 2015, 2017 and 2022. His lone Olympic gold came in 2016.  We are verging on Baumgartner-level status in Snyder’s trophy case.

The surprise story of the tournament for Team USA came at 65 kg with Real Woods catapulting to a bronze medal in one of the traditionally toughest weight classes in the world. After a 2-0 start to the day in repechage, Woods carried the momentum to the bronze medal contest. He defeated Canada’s Peiman Biabani, 3-1, with all points scored in regulation coming from activity time. Biabani went on the shot clock twice, as opposed to once for Woods, which ultimately made the difference in the defensive struggle.

Snyder and Woods sent the men’s freestyle team out of Zagreb on a high. Team USA scored three champions—Snyder, Zahid Valencia at 86 kg and Trent Hidlay at 92 kg—plus a silver medal from Levi Haines at 79 kg and a bronze medal from Woods. Fifth place honors went to Jax Forrest at 61 kg and David Carr at 74 kg, who came up short in hotly-contested bronze medal matches.

The U.S. finished as runner-up to Iran in a down-to-the-wire team race. Iran took the team title with 145 total points, nine ahead of the U.S. mark of 134. Japan slotted in third with 111 team points.

Also concluding on Tuesday evening were the women’s freestyle group one weights. U.S. entrants Cristelle Rodriguez at 55 kg and Jacarra Winchester at 59 kg did not qualify for a medal match.

Earlier in the day, Helen Maroulis advanced to the 57 kg World finals in women’s freestyle, securing her sixth trip to the final and eighth overall World medal. Macey Kilty and Kylie Welker were pulled into the women’s freestyle repechage at 65 kg and 76 kg, while Audrey Jimenez missed out on the repechage at 50 kg.

For a complete match-by-match breakdown of the evening session for Team USA in Zagreb, browse our day four match notes.

The tournament resumes at 10:30 a.m. local time on Wednesday with the women’s freestyle group two (50-57-65-76 kg) repechage, plus women’s freestyle group three (53-62-68-72 kg) preliminary rounds. Felicity Taylor, Adaugo Nwachukwu, Kennedy Blades and Alexandria Glaude take the mats for the first time tomorrow morning for Team USA. Zagreb, Croatia, is in the GMT +2 time zone, which is six hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time.

The Senior World Championships are streaming live on FloWrestling.com to the U.S. market. Brackets and updated results are available on UWW Arena.

USA Wrestling will provide regular updates on TheMat.com and its social media platforms throughout the event.