Hidlay Stages Epic Comeback to Win World Title

An otherwise rough day for the US men’s and women’s freestyle team at the 2025 World Championships ended on a spectacularly high note as Trent Hidlay staged a remarkable comeback to win the world title at 92 kg. 

In addition, veteran Kyle Snyder locked up his 10th world/Olympic medal and will wrestle for the gold medal at 97 kg in Tuesday’s set of gold medal matches. 

Snyder is a story for another day as Monday belonged to the NC State alum, Hidlay. Wrestling in his first Senior World Championship event, Hidlay was rarely challenged on his way to the finals. Standing between him and a gold medal was Amanula Gadzhimagomedov, representing the UWW/Russian team. Gadzhimagomedov was also making his Senior world debut. 

The overarching theme of the finals contest was Hidlay’s aggressiveness and his control of the action. As he’s been known to do, early in the first period, Hidlay used an underhook to get to a leg attack. He wasn’t able to finish cleanly and Gadzhimagomedov chest wrapped him for four points, plus two more later in the same sequence. Less than :30 into the bout, Hidlay trailed 6-0. 

A half minute later, Hidlay got on the scoreboard by blasting through Gadzhimagomedov after setting the hold up with his signature underhook. 

In the final minute of the opening stanza, Hidlay went for a double leg and was exposed again for four points with a chest wrap. Initially, Hidlay was given two points for exposure himself, making the score 10-4. After Hidlay’s corner challenged the exchange, the score was adjusted to 10-2 in the Russian wrestler’s favor. 

Facing match termination with another takedown for the Russian, Hidlay stayed aggressive and struck with an ankle pick. Once again, Gadzhimagomedov tried a chest wrap. This time, Hidlay was given two points for the takedown. This sequence was challenged by the Russian corner. Ultimately, the original decision was upheld and Hidlay was awarded a point for the lost challenge, making the score 10-5 heading into the break. 

One of the hallmarks of Hidlay’s run to the finals was his incredible pace. That proved to be the difference-maker in the second period as he never wore down. 

With about 75 seconds remaining in the contest, Hidlay was able to finish a double leg without any questions about back exposure. The hold cut his deficit to 10-7. As the clock moved under a minute remaining in the match, Hidlay powered his way through the Russian with an underhook to a knee pick. The pair went out of bounds and Hidlay found himself trailing 10-9. 

Right the :30 second mark of the match, Hidlay executed a duckunder to a double. Once again, as he was working to finish the takedown, Gadzhimagomedov tried a chest wrap. This time it was scored four points for Hidlay. For the first time, he was ahead, 13-10. The Russian corner was unable to challenge since their first period challenge was lost. 

Hidlay was able to avoid Gadzhimagomedov during the final seconds of the bout and became a world champion. 

It’s an incredible achievement for any wrestler, but even more unique because Hidlay never was able to make it to the top of the podium during his storied career at NC State. He also earned a pair of age group world medals, but neither were gold. 

Hidlay’s passion and his never-say-die attitude are a personification of the positive stereotypes we have about American wrestling. Those traits have also made him one of the fan favorites for USA wrestling. 

In other news, Penn State senior Levi Haines also wrestled in the gold medal match on Monday. Unfortunately, Haines was not able to solve the hand fighting of his opponent, Greece’s Georgios Kougioumtsidis. Typically, Haines is able to wear down his opponents with his hands and it leads to other openings. This time, Kougioumtsidis controlled the Penn State star. The final score reads 3-2, but Kougioumtsidis stopped wrestling in the final few seconds and Haines got a takedown. 

This was the first world championship in men’s freestyle for Greece. 

Haines comes away from his first Senior World Championship event with a silver medal. He was a member of the 2021 Cadet World team and did not earn any hardware at that tournament. 

As mentioned above, Kyle Snyder will be seeking his third world title and first since 2022 on Tuesday. Snyder put together a methodical 9-1 victory over Japan’s rising star Arash Yoshida. Earlier this year, Yoshida defeated Snyder at the Albanian Ranking Series event. 

In order to win his fourth gold, Snyder will have to defeat Iran’s Amirali Azarpira. Azarpira has two wins over Snyder, the most important coming in 2024 in the bronze medal match at the Olympic Games. The Iranian pulled one of the biggest upsets of the tournament when he knocked off World/Olympic champion Akhmed Tazhudinov (Bahrain) in the semifinals, 5-2. 

The other American to wrestle for a medal on Monday was David Carr at 74 kg. He became the latest American to fall victim to the late match exploits of Russian superstar Zaurbek Sidakov. With Carr lead 2-1 with under :10 remaining in the bout, Sidakov drug out of a front head lock and pushed Carr out of bounds for a step out point. That point tied the match at two, but Sidakov held criteria. That’s the way the match would end and Carr came up a match shy of a medal in his Senior debut. 

Finally, on the men’s freestyle side, Real Woods will be in tomorrow’s repechage. He’ll need to win three matches to claim a bronze medal. His  journey through repechage will start with a match against Kyrgyzstan’s Ikromzhon Khadzhimuradov. 

Also on Monday, the first two women’s weights got underway. Unfortunately, both Cristelle Rodriguez (55 kg) and Jacarra Winchester (59 kg), were beaten in the first matches of the day. Rodriguez fell 6-3 to U23 world champion Andreea Ana (Romania) and Winchester was pinned by China’s Hong Liang. Unfortunately, neither wrestler made the gold medal match at their respective weights, so both Americans have been eliminated. 

Men’s freestyle

65 kg

Round of 32: Real Woods over Maxim Sacultan (Moldova)  14-2

Round of 16: Rahman Amouzad (Iran) over Real Woods  12-1
 

74 kg

Repechage: David Carr over Tugsjargal Erdenbat (Mongolia)  10-0

Bronze Medal Match: Zaurbek Sidakov (UWW - Russia) over David Carr  2-2
 

79 kg

Gold Medal Match: Georgios Kougioumtsidis (Greece) over Levi Haines  3-2
 

92 kg

Gold Medal Match: Trent Hidlay over Amanula Gadzhimagomedov (UWW - Russia)  13-10
 

97 kg

Round of 16: Kyle Snyder over Cristian Sarco (Venezuela)  10-0

Quarterfinals: Kyle Snyder over Zbigniew Baranowski (Poland)  5-0

Semifinal Matchup: Kyle Snyder vs. Arash Yoshida (Japan)
 

Women’s Freestyle

55 kg

Andreea Ana (Romania) over Cristelle Rodriguez  6-3

59 kg

Hong Liang (China) over Jacarra Winchester  Fall 2:05
 

Final Results

Men’s Freestyle 

57 kg

Gold Medal Match: Chongsong Han (North Korea) over Bekzat Almaz Uulu (Kyrgyzstan)  12-9

Bronze Medal Match: Arsen Harutyunyan (Armenia) over Roman Bravo-Young (Mexico)  7-4

Bronze Medal Match: Gulomjon Abdullaev (Uzbekistan) over Vladimir Egorov (North Macedonia)  3-1
 

74 kg

Gold Medal Match: Kota Takahashi (Japan) over Chermen Valiev (Albania)  Injury Default

Bronze Medal Match: Zaurbek Sidakov (UWW - Russia) over David Carr (USA)  2-2

Bronze Medal Match: Taimurax Salkazanov (Slovakia) over Yones Emami (Iran)  3-1
 

79 kg

Gold Medal Match: Georgios Kougioumtsidis (Greece) over Levi Haines (USA)  3-2

Bronze Medal Match: Mohammad Nokhodilarimi (Iran) over Dzhabrail Gadzhiev (Azerbaijan)  4-2

Bronze Medal Match: Khidir Saipudinov (Bahrain) over Suldkhuu Olonbayar (Mongolia)  9-2
 

92 kg

Gold Medal Match: Trent Hidlay (USA) over Amanula Gadzhimagomedov (UWW - Russia)  13-10

Bronze Medal Match: Osman Nurmagomedov (Azerbaijan) over Miriani Maisuradze (Georgia)  5-1

Bronze Medal Match: Amirhossein Firouzpourbandpei (Iran) over Kamil Kurguliyev (Ukraine)  Fall 1:51

Tuesday's Gold Medal Matches

Men's Freestyle

65 kg: Kotaro Kiyooka (Japan) vs. Rahman Amouzad (Iran)

97 kg: Kyle Snyder (USA) vs. Amirali Azarpira (Iran)

Women's Freestyle

55 kg: Kyong Ryong Oh (North Korea) vs. Ekaterina Verbina (UWW - Russia)

59 kg: Sakura Onishi (Japan) vs. Mariia Vynnyk (Ukraine)