USA Wrestling names Olympic champion Sarah Hildebrandt as Assistant National Womens Coach

Sarah Hildebrandt of Colorado Springs, Colo. was named as Assistant National Women’s Coach by USA Wrestling, the national governing body for wrestling in the United States.

Hildebrandt, a 2024 Olympic gold medalist in women’s freestyle wrestling, joins USA Wrestling’s National Teams Department, working on the National Women’s Coaching staff, led by National Women’s Coach Terry Steiner and alongside National Women’s Developmental Coach Jessica Medina Bunker. She will be based in Colorado Springs, Colo., where the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center and USA Wrestling national headquarters are based.

Hildebrandt is retiring as an athlete to focus on a coaching career. She will help train athletes on the U.S. Senior National Team, as well as the resident athletes at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center. In her role, she will coach U.S. teams in international competition, as well.

“I have had a really long career and I’ve gotten the experience of what wrestling has taught me. It has made me so passionate about what this sport can do for people. If I can bring a passion and energy in support of their journey, kind of a door handle to open up their own adventure, that is exciting to me. Wrestling has given me so much. The sport has taught me everything about myself and helped me grow as a woman,” said Sarah Hildebrandt.

“It is not just what she has done; it is how she has done it. She has been through everything. She was a kid who couldn’t make the National Team and struggled. She made the World Team and struggled. She got hurt. It was then that she realized things, took a pause and changed. Because of her experiences, there is not a person on our National Team and around our program that doesn’t respect her. The respect is not just about her accomplishment in Paris; it is how she re-invented herself to become a great champion and a great human being. She will become a great coach,” said National Women’s Coach Terry Steiner.

“We have talked about creating a value-add for our program. I don’t think there is anything else we could do to have such a great value-add. She is authentic. She took the time to put all of the pieces together, and re-committed herself, year after year. She is the right person,” said Steiner.

In addition to her Olympic gold medal at the 2024 Paris Games, Hildebrandt claimed a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She boasts four Senior World medals, a silver medal in 2018 and bronze medals in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Overall, Hildbrandt competed in six Senior World Championships for Team USA. Hildebrandt made her first Senior National Team in 2014, and was a leader in the program.

She was also a talented age-group athlete, making three U.S. World Teams, competing in the 2013 World University Games and the U20 World Championships in 2012 and 2013.

Hildebrandt was dominant in Senior continental competition, winning a gold medal at the 2019 Pan American Games, while also claiming seven gold medals at the Pan American Championships (2013, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023).

Throughout her international career, Hildebrant became well known for her successful technical skills, including an ability to score exposure points when she was on top in the par terre position.

A star in college at King University, Hildebrandt was a two-time WCWA national champion and four-time WCWA national finalist. A native of Granger, Ind., Hildebrandt competed at Penn High School as part of the boys wrestling team. She was a successful freestyle wrestler in high school, winning the 2011 Junior Nationals and placing second in the 2010 Junior Nationals.

After her college career, Hildebrandt became a U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center resident athlete in Colorado Springs, where she lived and trained full-time. She has been a RUDIS sponsored athlete since 2018.

Hildebrandt has been a frequent clinician around the nation, working with both youth and Senior-level athletes, including at the University of Michigan and Fresno State University, as well as numerous USA Wrestling clubs around the nation. She has also make frequent speaking engagements and athlete appearances, sharing her story and helping promote wrestling for girls and women.

Hildebrandt received a bachelor’s degree in business marketing from King University in 2015, with a minor in leadership. While at King, she was the President of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee and a team caption for the women’s wrestling team.

She was named 2018 USA Wrestling Women’s Wrestler of the Year. In 2024, she received a Wrestle Like A Girl Afsoon Courage award. Her 2014 national champion King University women’s wrestling team has been inducted into the King University Hall of Fame.

Hildebrandt is excited to work with the U.S. women freestyle athletes in their pursuit of success at the World and Olympic level, with a goal of making the United States the No. 1 power in the world.

“We have an endless amount of potential,” said Hildebrandt. “Everyone can see the writing on the wall. We are coming. Once we get there, we are not moving. There are areas we can talk about, technical things, that we will always continue. For us, it will take some courage to step into some unknown places, to go beyond being second and third, and to become the gold.”