Featherweight, Freestyle (≤57 kg), Men

Reigning 2023 World Champion Stevan Mićić had to withdraw from the competition after not recovering in time from a knee injury sustained during practice. Already a top seed in Tokyo, the Arizona-born Serbian lost his first bout without scoring a point. His opponent in the final of the World championship, Japanese Rei Higuchi, moved up to the top of the seed list. When he won silver in Rio 2016, he was still a rookie and surprise medalist. Nationally and internationally, he won titles in weight classes from 57 kg up to 65 kg, including the 2022 Asian Championship (61 kg) and the 2018 World U-23 Championship.

Higuchi was the only one of the four top seeds to live up to expectations. After a forfeit in round one, he defeated Puerto Rican Darian Toi Cruz and Indian Aman Sehrawat after just a few minutes by technical superiority. Only in his gold medal match did he have to go the full distance, winning 4-2 over unseeded US American Spencer Lee. Nevertheless, Lee was not an unknown, after winning the U-17 and U-20 (twice) World Championships. Coming from a judo family, he was a two-time US champion and won gold at the Pan-American Games in February 2024. Lee had a tough match in the first round against the sixth seeded Chinese Zou Wanhao, prevailing with the narrow margin of 3-2 points. He then easily sailed through to the final with two victories by superiority. When Higuchi had a slight advantage with just seconds to go in the final, Lee made a final attack, but was countered with a takedown by Higuchi. Bronze went to the losing semi-finalists Sehrawat from India, another former U-17 and U-23World champion, and Gulomjon Abdullaev from Uzbekistan.