The 27-year-old sent the home crowd into rapture at the Štark Arena as he got the better of Japan's 2022 champion Rei Higuchi.

It was a tightly fought contest in the men's under-57-kilograms final but Mićić prevailed 7-4 in the capital.

The pair were joined on the podium by European champion Arsen Harutyunyan of Armenia and Albania's Zelimkhan Abakarov who came through the repechage to win bronze.

Harutyunyan dominated Kazakhstan's Meirambek Kartbay 11-0 to secure his third world bronze while the discipline's defending champion Abakarov emerged victorious 5-4 against neutral athlete Zaur Uguev.

Following the conclusion of Mićić's triumph, neutral Zaurbek Sidakov clinched his third World Championships title in the under-74kg class.

Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medallist Kyle Dake was the man to suffer as he fell to a 10-7 loss.

Serbian Khetag Tsabolov and Japan's Daichi Takatani both took respective 6-4 wins against Azeri Turan Bayramov and Georgios Kougioumtsidis of Greece to bag bronze.

Another neutral athlete found himself atop the podium in the form of Akhmed Usmanov in the under-79kg.

Georgian Vlamideri Gamkrelidze was solid at the start of the deciding bout but could not hold out as Usmanov eventually prevailed 4-1.

Mohammad Nokhodi of Iran and Ukrainian Vasyl Mykhailov then rounded out the podium.

The 19-year-old Rizabek Aitmukhan of Kazakhstan subjected Azerbaijan's Osman Nurmagomedov to silver in the under-92kg tournament.

He ended the bout with a 5-2 victory after American Zahid Valencia and Turkey's Feyzullah Aktürk picked up bronze medals.

The Championships are set to continue tomorrow with the under-65kg and under-97kg freestyle finals.

The first women's wrestling gold medals are also set to be won in the under-55kg and under-59kg tournaments.