By Richard Immel
USA Wrestling

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.

2026 Zagreb Open 

At Zagreb, Croatia, February 5 

Reference Links 

• Live stream

• Brackets

• Event schedule
  

Men’s Freestyle Results 

Medal Match Pairings 

79 kg 

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)

92 kg 

Gold – Mohammadmobin Azimi (Iran) vs. Trent Hidlay (United States)

Bronze – Dustin Plott (United States) vs. Michael Macchiavello (United States)

97 kg 

Gold – Hassan Yazdanicharati (Iran) vs. Stephen Buchanan (United States)

Bronze – Andro Margishvili (Georgia) vs. Richard Vegh (Hungary)

Bronze – Adlan Viskhanov (France) vs. Vicky (India)

125 kg 

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)

Women’s Freestyle Results 

Medal Match Pairings 

50 kg 

Gold – Neelam (India) vs. Haruna Morikawa (Japan)

Bronze – Muskan (India) vs. Agata Goluchowska Walerzak (Poland)

Bronze – Elizaveta Smirnova (UWW) vs. Natalia Walczak (Poland)

55 kg 

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)

U.S. Men’s Freestyle Results 

79 kg – Evan Wick (Madison, Wis./Askren Wrestling Academy/Titan Mercury WC), bronze medal match 

WIN Amit (India), fall, 4:19

LOSS Dean Hamiti (United States), 6-5

VS Danny Braunagel (United States)

79 kg – Danny Braunagel (O’Fallon, Ill./Illinois RTC/New York AC), bronze medal match 

WIN Sobhan Esmi (Iran), tech. fall, 18-8

LOSS Dean Hamiti (United States), tech. fall, 10-0

VS Evan Wick (United States)

79 kg – Dean Hamiti (Stillwater, Okla./Cowboy RTC/Titan Mercury WC), gold medal match 

WIN Danny Braunagel (United States), tech. fall, 10-0

WIN Evan Wick (United States), 6-5

VS Zelimkhan Khadjiev (France)

92 kg – Dustin Plott (Tuttle, Okla./Cowboy RTC/Titan Mercury WC), bronze medal match 

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)

92 kg – Trent Hidlay (Raleigh, N.C./Wolfpack RTC/Titan Mercury WC), gold medal match 

WIN Mohammadmobin Azimi (Iran), 5-5

WIN Abolfazl Rahmani Firouzjaei (Iran), 12-9

WIN Michael Macchiavello (United States), 3-3

VS Mohammadmobin Azimi (Iran)

97 kg – Stephen Buchanan (Coralville, Iowa/Hawkeye WC/Titan Mercury WC), gold medal match 

WIN Samuel Pereira (Canada), tech. fall, 12-1

WIN Vicky (India), 14-7

WIN Adlan Viskhanov (France), fall, 0:40

VS Hassan Yazdanicharati (Iran)

97 kg – Zane Lanham (Hurricane, W. Va./Arkansas RTC), eliminated 

WIN Musza Arsunkaev (Hungary), fall, 3:39

LOSS Adlan Viskhanov (France), tech. fall, 12-1

125 kg – Demetrius Thomas (Providence, R.I./New York AC), eliminated 

LOSS Shamil A Sharipov (Bahrain), tech. fall, 10-0

LOSS Dinesh (India), tech. fall, 12-2

125 kg – Wyatt Hendrickson (Stillwater, Okla./Cowboy RTC/U.S. Air Force WCAP), gold medal match 

WIN Mortaza Janmohammadzadehnamarvar (Iran), fall, 2:34

WIN Robert Baran (Poland), tech. fall, 11-1

VS Shamil A Sharipov (Bahrain)

U.S. Women’s Freestyle Results 

50 kg – Kendra Ryan (Winfield, Ill./Cardinal WC), eliminated 

LOSS Haruna Morikawa (Japan), tech. fall, 10-0

LOSS Natalia Walczak (Poland), 9-6

55 kg – Areana Villaescusa (Fountain, Colo./Army WCAP), bronze medal match 

WIN Tuba Demir (Türkiye), 4-1

LOSS Karla Godinez Gonzalez (Canada), 2-1

VS Amani Jones (United States)

55 kg – Amani Jones (Jonesboro, Ga./Cowgirls WC), bronze medal match 

LOSS Karla Godinez Gonzalez (Canada), 5-3

VS Areana Villaescusa (United States)