Snyder Wins Fourth World Title; Maroulis Advances to World Finals

Two of the most decorated athletes in American wrestling history were on the mat on Tuesday at the 2025 Senior World Championships and each seemed to turn back the clock with their impressive performances. Kyle Snyder capped the men’s freestyle competition with his fourth world championship and his tenth world/Olympic medal. A couple of hours earlier, Helen Maroulis used a semifinal fall to put her into tomorrow’s gold medal match and locked up her 12th(!) world/Olympic medal. Like Snyder, she’ll seek her fourth world championship.

Snyder's opponent in the 97 kg gold medal finals was a familiar one in Amirali Azarpira. The Iranian had defeated Snyder in a bronze medal match at the 2024 Olympic Games. Azarpira also defeated Snyder earlier in 2024 - at the Zagreb Open.

The familiarity between the two led to a largely uneventful first period. Snyder earned the only point of the period after Azarpira was put on the activity clock and failed to score.

Action picked up early in the second period as Azarpira used Snyder’s forward pressure against him and side-stepped the American for a takedown. Leading Snyder 2-1, with under a minute remaining in the bout, Azarpira was cautioned for passivity and Snyder was given a point. Even so, Azarpira led on criteria due to his takedown.

For the final minute of the bout, Snyder increased his pace and handfighting and it paid off late as he got to Azarpira’s leg near the edge of the mat. Instead of wasting time working for the takedown, Snyder wisely chose to escort the Iranian out of bounds for a step out point and a 3-2 lead. In the closing seconds of the bout, Azarpira got in on Snyder’s legs near the edge, but was not able to convert a takedown or even get a step out. His corner challenged the sequence, but the call on the mat stood. With the point for the lost challenge, Snyder was victorious, 4-2.

With the win, Snyder continues to cement his status as one of the all-time great American men’s freestyle wrestlers. His latest world title comes three years after his most recent championship. His first came in 2015. Snyder has represented the United States at 97 kg at every world/Olympic tournament since 2015.

Snyder’s win capped off a men’s freestyle tournament that saw the United States finish second behind Iran. The American squad finished with five medals, three of which were gold. Iran took the team title 145-134.

The other men’s freestyle wrestler in action today was Real Woods. He won a pair of repechage matches, which put him into a bronze medal bout. In that contest, Woods prevailed 2-1 on the strength of two activity clock violations on his opponent, Peiman Biabani of Canada.

The win capped an incredible five months for Woods. He took fourth at the US Open and then won the World Team Trials and swept Joey McKenna at Final X. Just a few weeks before the World Championships, he was a central figure in RAF 01 and captured their featherweight title. Woods is truly a success story in a 65 kg weight class that has had its share of international struggles over the last two decades.

Earlier this week, we noted how Zahid Valencia was the fourth American over the last 20 years to win a world title and not surrender a single point. J’den Cox, Kyle Dake, and Helen Maroulis were the others. Perhaps Maroulis felt the need to add her name to that conversation again. At least her performance on Tuesday makes one thing about it.

Maroulis had three matches today and all three ended with her opponents flat on their backs for a fall. In this afternoon’s 57 kg semifinals, Maroulis squared off with past world medalist Olga Khoroshavtseva, representing the UWW/Russia team.

In the opening period, Khoroshavtseva didn’t open up much or attempt any offensive maneuvers. The result was a point for Maroulis due to a passivity clock violation. In the second period, Khoroshavtseva attempted a shot in the opening seconds and was greeted with a reattack from Maroulis that put her straight to her back for a fall. It was the only one of Maroulis’ three matches that made it to the second period.

Maroulis will be in action tomorrow in search of her fourth world title. Her last came in 2021. Standing between Maroulis and more American history is Il Sim Son (North Korea). The North Korean team has had quite the women’s tournament already. They’ve crowned one champion and have two women in gold medal matches tomorrow.

Three other women started their tournaments today - Audrey Jimenez (50 kg), Macey Kilty (65 kg), and Kylie Welker (76 kg). Jimenez and Kilty were beaten in their first matches of the day. Welker managed a win, but was stunned late in the second period in the semifinals. Kilty and Welker have been pulled back into repechage and are eligible to wrestle for bronze medals.

On Wednesday, the final four members of the women’s freestyle tournament will get their tournaments underway - Felicity Taylor (53 kg), Adaugo Nwachukwo (62 kg), Kennedy Blades (68 kg), and Alex Glaude (72 kg). 

Tuesday's American Results

Men’s Freestyle

65 kg

Repechage: Real Woods over Ikromzhon Khadzhimurodov (Kyrgyzstan)  10-0

Repechage: Real Woods over Sujeet Kalkal (India)  7-5

Bronze Medal Match: Real Woods over Peiman Biabani (Canada)  3-1
 

97 kg

Gold Medal Match: Kyle Snyder over Amirali Azarpira (Iran)  4-2
 

Women’s Freestyle

50 kg: 

Round of 16: Emanuela Liuzzi (Italy) over Audrey Jimenez (USA)  6-3
 

57 kg

Round of 16: Helen Maroulis over Emine Cakmak (Turkiye)  Fall :59

Quarterfinals: Helen Maroulis over Himeka Tokuhara (Japan)  Fall 2:18

Semifinals: Helen Maroulis over Olga Khoroshavtseva (UWW - Russia)  Fall 3:11
 

65 kg

Round of 16: Alina Kasabieva (UWW - Russia) over Macey Kilty  6-6
 

76 kg

Round of 16: Kylie Welker over Vanesa Georgieva (Bulgaria)  Fall 4:01

Quarterfinals: Aiperi Medet Kyzy (Kyrgyzstan) over Kylie Welker  8-3

Final Results

Men’s Freestyle

65 kg

Gold Medal Match: Rahman Amouzad (Iran) over Kotaro Kiyooka (Japan)  10-0

Bronze Medal Match: Real Woods (USA) over Peiman Biabani (Canada)  3-1

Bronze Medal Match: Umidjon Jalolov (Uzbekistan) over Ibragim Ibragimov (UWW - Russia)  7-3

97 kg

Gold Medal Match: Kyle Snyder (USA) over Amirali Azarpira (Iran)  4-2

Bronze Medal Match: Akhmed Tazhudinov (Bahrain) over Akhmed Magamaev (Bulgaria)  13-10

Bronze Medal Match: Arash Yoshida (Japan) over Zbigniew Baranowski (Poland)  6-0

Women’s Freestyle

55 kg

Gold Medal Match: Kyong Ryong Oh (North Korea) over Ekaterina Verbina (UWW/Russia)  10-0

Bronze Medal Match: Sowaka Uchida (Japan) over Elvira Kamaloglu (Turkiye)  10-0

Bronze Medal Match: Andreea Ana (Romania) over Yaynelis Sanz Verdecia (Cuba)  6-3
 

59 kg

Gold Medal Match: Sakura Onishi (Japan) Mariia Vynnyk (Ukraine)  Fall 5:50

Bronze Medal Match: Altjin Togtokh (Mongolia) over Anastasiia Sidelnikova (UWW/Russia)  8-4

Bronze Medal Match: Laurence Beauregard (Canada) over Othelie Hoeie (Norway)  Fall 4:29

 

Wednesday’s Gold Medal Matches

50 kg: Myonggyong Won (North Korea) vs. Yu Zhang (China)

57 kg: Helen Maroulis (USA) vs. Il Sim Son (North Korea)

65 kg: Miwa Morikawa (Japan) vs. Alina Kasabieva (UWW - Russia)

76 kg: Aiperi Medet Kyzy (Kyrgyzstan) vs. Genesis Reasco Valdez (Ecuador)