Heavyweight, Freestyle (≤97 kg), Men

The two top seeds in the 97 kg class both managed to win medals. Eventual gold medalist and #2 seed Akhmed Tazhudinov, who became a naturalized Bahrainian in 2022, had actually been rated higher prior to the tournament than #1 seed Maqomedxan Maqomedov from Azerbaijan. No surprise that both were born in Dagestan. Tazhudinov won all major tournaments in which he competed since 2022, including the 2022 Asian Games and the 2023 World Championship.

In the lower half of the draw, Tazhudinov most notably defeated the Olympic gold (2016) and silver medalist (2020), and three-time World champion Kyle Snyder of the USA. In the final, Tazhudinov needed just 1:52 to overcome his Georgian opponent Givi Matcharashvili by a fall. After bronze medals in the 2022 and 2023 World championships, and two gold at European Championships, Tazhudinov was by no means an unknown.

Snyder lost somewhat surprisingly in the bronze medal match against unseeded Iranian Amirali Azarpira on points. After Matcharashvili had toppled #1 seed Maqomedov in the semi-final, the latter had to be content with bronze after the Ukrainian Muraz Mchedlidze conceded to the Azerbaijani’s superiority.