Hidlay, Hendrickson, Hamiti, Buchanan advance to finals at Zagreb Open
Share:
by Richard Immel, USA Wrestling
Wyatt Hendrickson at the 2025 World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia.
ZAGREB, Croatia – The momentum continued on the second day of the 2026 Zagreb Open, with four Americans qualifying for gold medal matches in men’s freestyle—Dean Hamiti at 79 kg, Trent Hidlay at 92 kg, Stephen Buchanan at 97 kg and Wyatt Hendrickson at 125 kg.
Coming in as the reigning World champion, Hidlay was pushed to three decision victories on his way to the gold medal match at Arena Zagreb, the same venue he topped the World charts in 2025.
Hidlay edged a pair of age-group stars from Iran, 2025 U23 World champion Mohammadmobin Azimi, 5-5, and three-time age-group World medalist Abolfazl Rahmani Firouzjaei, 12-9. In the semifinals, Hidlay took down fellow American Michael Macchiavello on criteria, 3-3. To grab gold, Hidlay will need a second victory over Azimi on Thursday evening.
Returning World Team member Hendrickson looked sharp in two wins during the morning session. He opened with a first-period pin against 2024 Military World silver medalist Mortaza Janmohammadzadehnamarvar of Iran and followed with an 11-1 technical fall over 2025 World bronze medalist Robert Baran of Poland. Hendrickson will see the other reigning World bronze medalist, Shamil A Sharipov of Bahrain, in this evening’s medal round.
With three comfortable wins under his belt, including two over age-group World medalists, Buchanan earned himself a primetime finals matchup against Hassan Yazdanicharati of Iran, who owns three Olympic medals and seven World medals.
Hamiti notched a pair of wins over American opponents—Danny Braunagel and Evan Wick—to set up a gold medal final against 2016 Olympian Zelimkhan Khadjiev of France.
Four more men’s freestylers qualified for the bronze medal round, both USA-on-USA matchups. Wick and Braunagel will face off for a 79 kg bronze medal. Similarly, Macchiavello takes on Dustin Plott for the 92 kg bronze.
Three athletes took the mats on the women’s freestyle side for Team USA, with two landing in the bronze medal round. 2024 World Team member Areana Villaescusa and two-time age-group World medalist Amani Jones will duke it out for bronze at 55 kg.
The action from Zagreb continues at 6 p.m. local time / Noon (ET) from Arena Zagreb with the men’s freestyle group two (79-92-97-125 kg) and women’s freestyle group one (50-55 kg) medal matches.
A live broadcast of the event is available to the U.S. market through FloWrestling.
Brackets and match-by-match results can be found on UWW Arena.
Gold – Dean Hamiti (United States) vs. Zelimkhan Khadjiev (France)
Bronze – Evan Wick (United States) vs. Danny Braunagel (United States)
Bronze – Otari Adeishvili (Georgia) vs. Adel Panaeian (Iran)
Gold – Mohammadmobin Azimi (Iran) vs. Trent Hidlay (United States)
Bronze – Dustin Plott (United States) vs. Michael Macchiavello (United States)
Gold – Hassan Yazdanicharati (Iran) vs. Stephen Buchanan (United States)
Bronze – Andro Margishvili (Georgia) vs. Richard Vegh (Hungary)
Bronze – Adlan Viskhanov (France) vs. Vicky (India)
Gold – Wyatt Hendrickson (United States) vs. Shamil A Sharipov (Bahrain)
Bronze – Robert Baran (Poland) vs. Mortaza Janmohammadzadehnamarvar (Iran)
Bronze – Kamil Kosciolek (Poland) vs. Dinesh (India)
Gold – Neelam (India) vs. Haruna Morikawa (Japan)
Bronze – Muskan (India) vs. Agata Goluchowska Walerzak (Poland)
Bronze – Elizaveta Smirnova (UWW) vs. Natalia Walczak (Poland)
Gold – Ekaterina Verbina (UWW) vs. Karla Godinez Gonzalez (Canada)
Bronze – Nagisa Harada (Japan) vs. Beatrice Ferent (Romania)
Bronze – Areana Villaescusa (United States) vs. Amani Jones (United States)
WIN Amit (India), fall, 4:19
LOSS Dean Hamiti (United States), 6-5
VS Danny Braunagel (United States)
WIN Sobhan Esmi (Iran), tech. fall, 18-8
LOSS Dean Hamiti (United States), tech. fall, 10-0
VS Evan Wick (United States)
WIN Danny Braunagel (United States), tech. fall, 10-0
WIN Evan Wick (United States), 6-5
VS Zelimkhan Khadjiev (France)
WIN Zaur Beradze (Georgia), 5-0
WIN Michael Macchiavello (United States), 6-3
WIN Jointy Kumar (India), forfeit
LOSS Mohammadmobin Azimi (Iran), tech. fall, 11-0
VS Michael Macchiavello (United States)
92 kg – Michael Macchiavello (Northampton, Pa./Lehigh Valley Wrestling RTC/Titan Mercury WC), bronze medal match
WIN Jointy Kumar (India), forfeit
LOSS Dustin Plott (United States), 6-3
WIN Zaur Beradze (Georgia), 3-2
LOSS Trent Hidlay (United States), 3-3
VS Dustin Plott (United States)
WIN Mohammadmobin Azimi (Iran), 5-5
WIN Abolfazl Rahmani Firouzjaei (Iran), 12-9
WIN Michael Macchiavello (United States), 3-3
VS Mohammadmobin Azimi (Iran)
WIN Samuel Pereira (Canada), tech. fall, 12-1
WIN Vicky (India), 14-7
WIN Adlan Viskhanov (France), fall, 0:40
VS Hassan Yazdanicharati (Iran)
WIN Musza Arsunkaev (Hungary), fall, 3:39
LOSS Adlan Viskhanov (France), tech. fall, 12-1
LOSS Shamil A Sharipov (Bahrain), tech. fall, 10-0
LOSS Dinesh (India), tech. fall, 12-2
WIN Mortaza Janmohammadzadehnamarvar (Iran), fall, 2:34
WIN Robert Baran (Poland), tech. fall, 11-1
VS Shamil A Sharipov (Bahrain)
LOSS Haruna Morikawa (Japan), tech. fall, 10-0
LOSS Natalia Walczak (Poland), 9-6
WIN Tuba Demir (Türkiye), 4-1
LOSS Karla Godinez Gonzalez (Canada), 2-1
VS Amani Jones (United States)
LOSS Karla Godinez Gonzalez (Canada), 5-3
VS Areana Villaescusa (United States)
Iowa City & University of Iowa Women’s Wrestling to Host Team USA & Ukraine next month; USA vs. UKR “Friendly” at Xtream Arena
2025 Bill Farrell Memorial International Streaming Live On USA Wrestling YouTube
Mesenbrink strikes gold, Janiak bronze, U.S. women third overall at U23 World Championships
Returning champion Welker leads U.S. women’s team to 2025 U23 World Championships
