Some came to earn ranking points for the United World Wrestling (UWW) Ranking List, which will allow them to get better draws in the biggest events of the year. Some, like the Iranian athletes, were there to secure their place in the national team. Others, like the Indian wrestlers, just wanted to get in some good training before the most important tournaments of the first half of the year, such as the continental championships and the continental Olympic qualifiers.

Indian athletes competed under the UWW flag, as the Indian Wrestling Federation has been suspended by the UWW. One of them - Aman - put in a great performance to win the gold medal in the men's -57kg freestyle category, defeating Turkey's Muhammet Karavus, Zane Richards from the USA, Georgia's Roberti Dingashvili and China's Wanhao Zou by an impressive score of 47-4.

Armenia's Vazgen Tevanyan made a bold statement in the men's -65kg freestyle when he defeated reigning world runner-up Sebastian Rivera (Puerto Rico) 9-1 in the semi-finals. Tevanyan had lost his semi-final to Rivera in the final seconds at the World Championships in Belgrade, but took his revenge in Zagreb.

In the same category, 2022 World champion Rahman Amouzad faced Abbas Ebrahimzade for a place in the national team. The two Iranian wrestlers met in the semi-finals, and Amouzad won 12-4 to book his place in the upcoming qualifying tournaments. The Iranian later withdrew from the final and Tevanyan took the gold medal.

USA's Jason Nolf came to Zagreb to prove his competitiveness in the men's 74 kg freestyle category. Last year's Zagreb Open champion didn't have too many chances as the USA have four-time world champion Kyle Dake in the same weight category. 

Nolf defeated tough opponents such as Bulgaria's Ramazan Ramazanov and Hungary's Murad Kuramagomedov in the preliminaries, and then pinned Greece's rising star Georgios Kougioumtsidis just seconds into the bout. Nolf went on to win the gold medal by defeating Iran's Hossein Abouzaripashkolaei in the final, proving once again that he will be a formidable opponent for Dake in the national selection.

Bulgarian newcomer Magomed Ramazanov won his first international tournament under the new flag. Ramazanov stormed through the men's -86kg freestyle category with five impressive wins, including one over World medallist Azamat Dauletbekov of Kazakhstan, and showed that he is a force to be reckoned with in the Olympic year.

In the men's 97 kg freestyle, everyone was expecting a rivalry between 2016 Olympic and three-time World Champion Kyle Snyder of the USA and two-time World Champion (92 kg) Kamran Ghasempour, and they got it. Snyder won the semi-final 4-0 and was through to the final, but there was an upset when the other Iranian - national champion Amirali Azarpira - stunned the American by scoring six unanswered points in the second round to win the match 6-3. Azarpira has now secured his place in the national team, leaving Ghasempour out of one of the biggest surprises of the tournament.

In the men's -125 kg freestyle, world champion Amir Zare of Iran and runner-up Geno Petriashvili of Georgia started the tournament overconfident and defeated their rivals with technical superiority. In the 1/8 final, Petriashvili had to fight hard against Poland's Kamil Kosciolek, but he managed to win 3-2. The two were set to meet in the semi-finals. However, Petriashvili retired with an injury and Zare went through to the final, where he was challenged by fellow countryman and national champion Amirreza Varaladi. Zare proved too strong for the young Valadi, winning 5-0.

The gold medals in the non-Olympic weight categories went to Bekhebayar Erdenebat (Mongolia, 61 kg), Akakai Kemertelidze (Georgia, 70 kg), Mohammad Nokhodilarimi (Iran, 79 kg) and Nathan Jackson (USA, 92 kg). The USA won the men's freestyle team event, ahead of Iran and Georgia. 

In the men's Greco-Roman style, Azerbaijan won the team title, with Hungary second and Turkey third. 

The main rivalries in the 60 kg weight category were Victor Ciobanu (Moldova) against Edmond Nazaryan (Bulgaria), and  Sadyk Lalaev (AIN) against Anvar Alakhiarov (AIN). Ciobanu and Nazaryan met in the semi-finals, with the Moldovan winning via criteria. Lalaev defeated Allakhiarov in the quarter-finals to book his place in the Russian team.

The biggest upset in the 67 kg weight category was the defeat of reigning world runner-up Hasrat Jafarov by reigning Olympic runner-up Parviz Nasibov of Ukraine. Nasibov pinned the rising star from Azerbaijan in the semi-finals and went on to win the gold medal with a 4-3 victory over France's Gagik Snjoyan in the final. Jafarov himself won the bronze medal by defeating Egypt's Moustafa Alameldin. Another upset came from Olympic bronze medallist Mohamed Elsayed’s performance. The Egyptian lost to neutral Aslan Visiaitov in the quarter-finals.

The 77 kg category was, as always, the most representative. The World vice-champion Sanan Suleymanov once again proved his Olympic ambitions by defeating former world vice-champion Zoltan Levai of Hungary 5-0 in the final. Suleymanov had previously defeated strong opponents such as Aik Mnatsakanian (Bulgaria) and Yunus Basar (Turkey) in the preliminary rounds. 

Milad Alirzaev (AIN) won the competition in the 87 kg category. His toughest fight came in the quarter-finals against his old rival from the Russian national championships, Aleksand Komarov, a former cadet and junior world and european champion who now represents Serbia. The bout ended 5-5, with Alirzaev winning by criteria and Komarov finishing third. 

Another independent neutral athlete, Belarusian rising star Abubakar Khaslakhanau, dominated the 97 kg category, defeating Finland's Arvi Savolainen 11-2 in the final. Khaslakhanau will be a serious problem for the world leaders in the Olympic year.

Iran's Fardin Hedayati won the gold medal in the 130 kg weight category, upsetting Cuba’s Oscar Pino Hinds in the quarterfinals. However it will be hard for him to win a place in the National team for the Olympic Games, as Iran has world champion Amin Mirzazadeh in this weight category.

Burak Uzun (Turkiye, 55 kg), Leri Abuladze (Georgia, 63 kg), Ulvi Ganizade (Azerbaijan, 72 kg) and Erik Szilvassy (Hungary, 82 kg) won the competitions in the non-olympic weight categories.

One of the most impressive athletes of modern-era wrestling, Yua Susaki of Japan once again proved her dominance in women's 50! Kg weight category. The Olympic champion and four time world champion started slowly, having some problems in her second bout against Yelizaveta Smirnova (AIN), but then stormed to the victory by winning with a total 32-2 score. 

It was a rematch of the 2023 World Championships final in women's 62 kg weight category's semifinal between Aisuluu Tynybekova (Kyrgyzstan) and Sakura Motoki (Japan), and Tynybekova once again claimed the victory USA's, this time by criteria. Tynybekova then defeated USA's Kayla Miracle in the final an started the year with big victory. 

China's Feng Zou was sensational in the women's 68 kg category, first defeating world runner-up Buse Cavusoglu of Turkey in the semi-finals and then reigning world champion Delgermaa Enkhsaikhan of Mongolia in the final. The Asian went on to win the gold medal, beating Forrest Molinari of the United States in the final. Cavusoglu avenged Enkhsaikhan's defeat in the World Championship final by beating the Mongolian in the third-place match. 

It was an important victory for China's Qianyu Pang (53 kg) and Kexin Hong (57 kg). Both won gold medals in Zagreb, but more importantly they secured their places in the national team ahead of the Asian qualifiers to the Olympic Qualifiers. Pang pinned her compatriot Min Zhang in the semi-finals and Hong defeated Qi Zhang in the final bout. 

Kyrgyzstan's Aiperi Medet Kyzy, the reigning world runner-up, dominated the competition in the women's 76kg category. She didn't give Tokyo 2020 vice-champion and six-time world champion Adeline Gray (USA) a chance in the quarter-finals, defeating her with technical superiority. Kyzy progressed to the final, where she defeated China's Juan Wang 2-1,with all the points in the bout coming from passive warnings.

Canada's Samantha Stewart (55 kg), Ukraine's Alina Filipovych (59 kg), Alla Brlinska (65 kg) and Iryna Zablotska (72 kg) won the events in the non-Olympic weight categories. 

With these three gold medals, Ukraine overtook China to win the team event in women's freestyle wrestling. The USA finished third.