By Richard Immel
USA Wrestling

The year-end tradition of reflection and appreciation for the sport of wrestling continues in 2025, albeit with a different voice behind the keyboard. 

My longtime mentor and friend, Gary Abbott, who retired three months ago after nearly four decades of service to USA Wrestling, always enjoyed writing up his top wrestling stories of the year. It is my intent to keep this tradition alive, if anything, because I know Gary will read and enjoy. I’ll give it my best attempt to fill these (untied) shoes. Congratulations on an amazing career, Gary. Your presence around here is already missed. 

Before I jump into my personal top 10 wrestling stories of 2025, I feel the urge to brag a bit on the USA Wrestling community. First off, kudos to everyone who participated in USA Wrestling this year. Whether you are an athlete, coach, parent, official, or fan, know that you made an impact. USA Wrestling shattered its membership record in the 2024-25 membership year with nearly 372k members, up 28k from the year prior. Wrestling in the U.S. has never been healthier, and that is tremendously exciting for the future. 

USA Wrestling also launched USA Bracketing, its new event management platform, with great success in 2025. A special shoutout to my colleague Dave Mathews and his crew for the tireless, sometimes thankless, efforts on this project (that continue today), and for leveling up the game in the wrestling technology space. As someone who constantly thinks about preserving the history of our great sport, what a win for all of us to have a resource like USA Bracketing at our fingertips. 

With the pleasantries out of the way, let’s move on to my top 10 wrestling stories of 2025.

10. Olympian Ben Askren’s inspirational recovery from a double lung transplant 

At 41 years old and in seemingly great health, 2008 Olympian Ben Askren underwent the fight of his life and has come out the other side as an inspiration to all. In June 2025, Askren was hospitalized with a staph infection that progressed into pneumonia that severely damaged his lungs. He was in a coma for multiple weeks before receiving a life-saving double lung transplant. Askren has publicly documented his recovery journey through his social media platforms with the wrestling community behind him every step of the way. Askren’s initials were worn on the U.S. World Team singlets in Zagreb, Croatia. He remains #AskrenStrong as he carries on his recovery process each day.   

9. Kikiniou family success—Father-son duo make U.S. Open finals; Arseni doubles up at U17 Worlds 

What a year it was for the incredible Kikiniou family. Aliaksandr Kikiniou Sr. was a two-time Olympian for Belarus (2004, 2012) and immigrated to the United States, where he began competing under the U.S. banner in 2023. At age 45, Kikiniou made the finals of this year’s U.S. Open, which served as the Greco-Roman World Team Trials. As did his 18-year-old son, Aliaksandr Kikiniou Jr. Both finished as No. 2 on the U.S. National Team in Greco-Roman. Kikiniou Jr. went on to represent the U.S. at the U23 World Championships in Novi Sad, Serbia. Adding to the Kikiniou family name this year was the younger Kikiniou sibling, Arseni, who won a medal in both Greco-Roman and freestyle at the U17 World Championships. He was the first American to achieve this remarkable feat at the U17 level.   

8. Carter Starocci becomes first five-time NCAA Div. I champion; Penn State wins 13th NCAA title with record 10 All-Americans 

Penn State super senior Carter Starocci became the first individual to win five NCAA Division I titles with a 4-3 win over Northern Iowa’s Parker Keckeisen in the 184-pound finals. Both Starocci and Keckeisen were returning NCAA champions. Starocci was one-of-two tournament champions for the Nittany Lions, 157-pound winner Mitchell Mesenbrink being the other. The Nittany Lions went 10-for-10 on All-Americans as they claimed their 13th national title, and 12th in the last 14 seasons under head coach Cael Sanderson. Penn State joined 2001 Minnesota as the only teams to have all 10 wrestlers reach the NCAA podium and become All-Americans in the same season. 

7. Luke Lilledahl becomes first U.S. man to win U17, U20 and U23 World titles  

20-year-old Luke Lilledahl collected his third age-group World title with a gold medal run at 57 kg in men’s freestyle at the 2025 U23 World Championships held in Novi Sad, Serbia. It was Lilledahl’s fifth overall age-group World medal (four golds, two silvers) and helped spur on Team USA to the men’s freestyle team title at the U23 Worlds. With his win in Serbia, Lilledahl became the first in U.S. history to claim a U17, U20 and U23 World title in men’s freestyle. Amit Elor achieved this feat on the women’s freestyle side before going on to win an Olympic gold medal in 2024. 

6. U.S. becomes first country to win U17, U20 and U23 men’s freestyle team titles in same year 

The men’s freestyle age-group World Championships success for Team USA was off the charts in 2025. The U.S. collected first-place trophies at each of the U17, U20 and U23 World Championships, becoming the first country to do so since the U23 Worlds was established in 2017. At the U17 Worlds in Athens, Greece, the U.S. earned seven medals with Keegan Bassett, Ariah Mills, Sammy Sanchez and Jayden James collecting gold. Eight individuals brought home a medal from the U20 Worlds in Samokov, Bulgaria, with Marcus Blaze, Luke Stanich, PJ Duke, Max McEnelly and Justin Rademacher becoming champions. It was five medals for the U.S. at the U23 Worlds in Novi Sad, Serbia, with Luke Lilledahl, Jax Forrest, Mitchell Mesenbrink and Levi Haines reeling in gold. 

5. High schoolers Jax Forrest, PJ Duke and Jayden Raney make Senior World Team 

Wrestlers in the U.S. have never been more skilled at a young age than they are right now. Look no further than the 2025 U.S. Senior World Team for proof. High School athletes Jax Forrest, PJ Duke and Jayden Raney pushed through incredibly deep domestic fields to qualify for the Senior World Championships as members of Team USA. Forrest and Duke earned monumental wins in the last hurdle of the Trials process to make the men’s freestyle team—Forrest defeating World champion Vito Arujau at 61 kg and Duke outlasting World silver medalist Yianni Diakomihalis at 70 kg in the best-of-three Final X series. International tournaments aside, Duke pinning Diakomihalis in round three at Prudential Center was the biggest “jaw-dropping” moment on the USA Wrestling calendar last season. Raney ascended to the top spot at 55 kg on the Greco-Roman side and was one of the bright spots for Team USA at the World Championships. All three represented well in Zagreb, Croatia. Forrest placed the highest of the trio in fifth after nearly pulling off a win in the bronze medal bout. 

4. Wyatt Hendrickson stuns Olympic champion Gable Steveson for NCAA heavyweight crown 

It was a moment that held the entire country captivated—Oklahoma State’s Wyatt Hendrickson slayed Goliath in the heavyweight finals of the NCAA Div. I Championships with President Donald Trump and select members of Congress sitting matside. Hendrickson, a graduate transfer from the Air Force Academy, defeated 2020 Olympic champion and two-time NCAA champion Gable Steveson of Minnesota with a go-ahead takedown in the final moments of the 285-pound final. He became an overnight sensation in American pop culture. Hendrickson went on to win the Dan Hodge Trophy as the nation’s top college wrestler. He rode this momentum to a berth on the U.S. Senior World Team and represented Team USA at the 2025 World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia. 

3. Team USA welcomes Zahid Valencia and Trent Hidlay to the World champion club 

A couple of new additions will be added to the Wall of Champions at the Bill Farrell Wrestling Center in Colorado Springs—welcome Zahid Valencia and Trent Hidlay. Both men exploded to World titles in Zagreb, Croatia, and did so in unique ways. For my money’s worth, Valencia was the pound-for-pound most impressive wrestler at the World Championships. Valencia shut out all five of his international opponents at 86 kg, put up 49 total match points, and ended four matches early by technical fall. The only match to go to a decision came in the semifinals, 7-0, against two-time World champion Kamran Ghasempour of Iran. On the flip side, Hidlay overcame an eight-point, first-period deficit in the 92 kg World finals to win a 13-10 decision against Russian Amanula Gadzhimagomedov. As someone who intently watched every session of the Worlds from my perch at Arena Zagreb, Hidlay’s final was the most electrifying match of the event. Hidlay completed his tournament with a 5-0 record, notching signature wins over past World medalists Osman Nurmagomedov of Azerbaijan and Miriani Maisuradze of Georgia prior to the title match. 

2. Rio Olympic champions Helen Maroulis and Kyle Snyder reclaim top spots, notch fourth Senior World titles 

Prior to the 2025 World Championships, only five individuals had earned at least four World titles in a career for Team USA—Adeline Gray (6), Jordan Burroughs (6), Tricia Saunders (4), John Smith (4) and Kyle Dake (4). Maryland natives Helen Maroulis and Kyle Snyder, both of whom are 2016 Olympic champions and multiple-time Olympic medalists, put two more names on the list with sensational performances in Zagreb, Croatia. Maroulis pinned her way to the 57 kg women’s freestyle final, and powered through an inside trip on North Korea’s Il Sim Son to score the title-clinching takedown with six seconds left in the gold medal match. Maroulis has now collected eight medals at the Senior World Championships—four golds, two silvers and two bronzes. She also owns a U.S. record three Olympic medals—gold from the 2016 Rio Games and bronze at both the 2020 Tokyo Games and 2024 Paris Games. She was the first U.S. woman to win an Olympic gold medal in wrestling, and the first to win multiple Olympic medals. Snyder exacted some revenge in the 97 kg men’s freestyle final, taking out Iranian rival Amirali Azarpira in the gold medal match, 4-2. Azarpira previously defeated Snyder in the bronze medal match at the Paris Olympics. Like Maroulis, Snyder now owns eight Senior World medals (four golds, two silvers and one bronze) and two Olympic medals (one gold, one silver) dating back to his first World Championships in 2015. We continue to witness mirrored careers of U.S. wrestling legends. And they aren’t done yet. 

1. NCAA approves women’s wrestling as 91st championship sport; First championship event coming March 2026 

For sentimental reasons, it is fitting that the NCAA passed women’s wrestling on to being a championship sport the same year that longtime women’s wrestling advocate Gary Abbott retired from USA Wrestling. For that reason alone, this is my personal top story of the year. Purely for the sport of wrestling, it can’t be overstated how monumental this January 2025 announcement was. It’s yet another milestone for the sport of women’s wrestling. It validates the efforts of everyone who has spent decades working toward this moment, and provides another opportunity for women in our sport to shine. As for the details, we will see you March 6-7 in Coralville, Iowa, for the first official NCAA Women’s Wrestling Championships. We are here for the show.

See you in 2026 

Let’s put a bow on a record-breaking year for USA Wrestling in 2025 and look forward to exciting moments coming our way in 2026. Here are five things I’m already thinking about for the upcoming season. 

• Hosting the U23 World Championships in Las Vegas and the Senior Pan American Championships in Iowa. Hope to see you there!

• Witnessing the first NCAA Women’s Wrestling Championships. (see above)

• USA Wrestling is moving offices next week—who doesn’t love moving, am I right?

• A new generation of stars is here. Last year, it was Forrest, Duke and Raney. Let’s see which youngsters will crack the World Team lineup in 2026. I bet we will see some shuffling.

• A Senior World Championships in Bahrain seems fun!