# 1979 World Wrestling Championships

The 1979 World Wrestling Championships were held in San Diego, California, United States. As during the 1973 edition, the venue, San Diego State University Arena hosted the Pan American Sambo Championships very next day after the freestyle event finale.

## Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Soviet Union | 9 | 5 | 2 | 16 |
| 2 | Hungary | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 3 | Bulgaria | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| 4 | Japan | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 5 | United States | 1 | 5 | 4 | 10 |
| 6 | Romania | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 7 | Poland | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 7 | Sweden | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 9 | East Germany | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 10 | West Germany | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 11 | Yugoslavia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | Italy | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (12 entries) | Totals (12 entries) | 21 | 19 | 20 | 60 |

## Team ranking

| Rank | Men's freestyle | Men's freestyle | Men's Greco-Roman | Men's Greco-Roman |
| Rank | Team | Points | Team | Points |
| 1 | Soviet Union | 50 | Soviet Union | 43 |
| 2 | United States | 35 | Hungary | 30 |
| 3 | East Germany | 21 | Bulgaria | 27 |
| 4 | Japan | 19.25 | United States | 17 |
| 5 | Bulgaria | 19 | West Germany | 17 |
| 6 | Poland | 13.5 | Romania | 15 |

## Medal summary
### Men's freestyle

| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 48 kg | Sergey Kornilayev Soviet Union | Bobby Weaver United States | Jan Falandys Poland |
| 52 kg | Yuji Takada Japan | James Haines United States | Hartmut Reich East Germany |
| 57 kg | Hideaki Tomiyama Japan | Sergey Beloglazov Soviet Union | Joe Corso United States |
| 62 kg | Vladimir Yumin Soviet Union | Miho Dukov Bulgaria | Andre Metzger United States |
| 68 kg | Mikhail Charachura Soviet Union | Akira Miyahara Japan | Eberhard Probst East Germany |
| 74 kg | Leroy Kemp United States | Martin Knosp West Germany | Nikolay Petrenko Soviet Union |
| 82 kg | István Kovács Hungary | John Peterson United States | Magomedkhan Aratsilov Soviet Union |
| 90 kg | Khasan Ortzev Soviet Union | Uwe Neupert East Germany | Ivan Ginov Bulgaria |
| 100 kg | Ilya Mate Soviet Union | Russ Hellickson United States | Vasile Pușcașu Romania |
| +100 kg | Salman Khasimikov Soviet Union | Roland Gehrke East Germany | Andrei Ianko Romania |

### Men's Greco-Roman

| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 48 kg | Constantin Alexandru Romania | Aleksey Shumakov Soviet Union | Pavel Hristov Bulgaria |
| 52 kg | Lajos Rácz Hungary | Kamil Fatkulin Soviet Union | Toshio Asakura Japan |
| 57 kg | Shamil Serikov Soviet Union | Kiwamu Kashiwagi Japan | Antonino Caltabiano Italy |
| 62 kg | István Tóth Hungary | Abdurrahim Kuzu United States | Lars Malmkvist Sweden |
| 68 kg | Andrzej Supron Poland | Aleksandr Aliyev Soviet Union | Erich Klaus West Germany |
| 74 kg | Yanko Shopov Bulgaria | Shared gold | Karl-Heinz Helbing West Germany |
| 74 kg | Ferenc Kocsis Hungary | Shared gold | Karl-Heinz Helbing West Germany |
| 82 kg | Gennady Korban Soviet Union | Momir Petković Yugoslavia | Pavel Pavlov Bulgaria |
| 90 kg | Frank Andersson Sweden | Norbert Növényi Hungary | Pedro Pawlidis West Germany |
| 100 kg | Nikolay Balboshin Soviet Union | Georgi Raykov Bulgaria | Brad Rheingans United States |
| +100 kg | Aleksandar Tomov Bulgaria | Aleksandr Kolchinsky Soviet Union | Bob Walker United States |