Photo: Tony Rotundo
The 2026 Senior World Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, are over, and it was a historic week for Team USA. The U.S. won 15 medals (7 gold, 2 silver, 6 bronze), crowned seven World champions, and won both the men's and women's freestyle World team titles in the same year for the first time.
At a Glance
- Men's freestyle: 9 medals (5 gold, 1 silver, 3 bronze), 42-6 record, World team champions with 194 points
- Women's freestyle: 6 medals (2 gold, 1 silver, 3 bronze), 27-10 record, World team champions with 137 points
- Greco-Roman: no medals, 3-13 record, 31st in the team standings
Men's Freestyle: Team Champions
The U.S. men put together one of the best weeks in program history, winning medals at nine of ten weights and finishing nine points ahead of Russia (185) in the team race. Iran was third with 133.
- 🥇 57kg Spencer Lee (5-0): TF 10-0 over Roman Bravo-Young (MEX) in the final
- 🥉 61kg Marcus Blaze (4-1): Dec 4-2 over Assyl Aitakyn (KAZ) for bronze
- 🥇 65kg Bo Bassett (5-0): Dec 9-1 over Vazgen Tevanyan (ARM), the first U.S. World champion at this weight since Bill Zadick in 2006 (then 66kg)
- 🥉 70kg Zain Retherford (4-1): Dec 4-0 over Lachlan McNeil (CAN), his third World medal
- 74kg James Green (2-2): 9th place, one win short of a bronze-medal match
- 🥇 79kg Levi Haines (5-0): Dec 4-3 over Mohammad Nokhodi (IRI), clinching the team title
- 🥇 86kg Kyle Dake (6-0): Dec 3-2 over Arsenii Dzhioev (AZE), his fifth World title and first at a third weight class
- 🥈 92kg Trent Hidlay (3-1): fell 3-2 to Amanula Gadzhimagomedov (RUS) in a rematch of last year's final
- 🥇 97kg Kyle Snyder (4-0): Dec 4-4 over Arash Yoshida (JPN), his fifth World title, after beating Abdulrashid Sadulaev in the quarterfinals
- 🥉 125kg Wyatt Hendrickson (4-1): TF 10-0 in 25 seconds over Jaspooran Singh (IND)
Women's Freestyle: First Team Title Since 1999
The U.S. women edged Japan 137-135 for the team title, the program's first since 1999 and only its second ever. China finished third with 121.
- 50kg Morgan Turner (1-1): eliminated in the round of 16
- 53kg Cristelle Rodriguez (2-2): 5th place, falling 6-3 to Andreea Ana (ROU) in the bronze-medal match
- 🥇 55kg Everest Leydecker (4-0): Dec 4-1 over Nataliia Klivchutska (UKR). She gave up one point in every match, and her gold clinched the team title.
- 🥉 57kg Helen Maroulis (3-1): Dec 5-2 over Nilufar Raimova (KAZ), her ninth World medal
- 🥈 59kg Abigail Nette (3-1): fell 8-6 to Manisha (IND) in the final
- 🥇 62kg Adaugo Nwachukwu (4-0): Dec 12-11 over Nonoka Ozaki (JPN) in the final
- 65kg Kayla Miracle (1-1): eliminated in the round of 16
- 🥉 68kg Kennedy Blades (3-1): pinned Delgermaa Enkhsaikhan (MGL) for bronze
- 72kg Precious Wieser (2-2): 5th place, falling 9-5 to Tanu Sharma (IND) for bronze
- 🥉 76kg Dymond Guilford (4-1): Dec 7-2 over Kadriye Kocak Aksoy (TUR)
Greco-Roman: A Tough Week
The Greco-Roman team went 3-13 without a medal and finished 31st in the team standings. Iran won the team title with 192 points. Several of the U.S. losses were close, including Cohlton Schultz's 1-1 criteria loss at 130kg and Benjamin Peak's 5-4 loss to Russia's Mingiian Goriaev at 72kg.
- 55kg Max Nowry (1-2)
- 60kg Dalton Roberts (0-1)
- 63kg Xavier Johnson (0-2)
- 67kg Otto Black (1-2)
- 72kg Benjamin Peak (1-1)
- 77kg Joel Adams (0-1)
- 82kg Kamal Bey (0-1)
- 87kg Beka Melelashvili (0-1)
- 97kg Tim Young (0-1)
- 130kg Cohlton Schultz (0-1)
The Bottom Line
Seven World champions, 15 medals and two team trophies. Team USA's freestyle programs have never had a week quite like this, and with a young core led by Bassett, Leydecker, Haines and Blaze, the future looks just as bright.
We'll break down every result on Basch & The Brain. Subscribe on YouTube so you don't miss an episode, and see every match on our Team USA Senior Worlds tracker.