Still a teenager for another two months, Kyle Snyder has already made his mark on the wrestling scene. Not just the Big Ten wrestling scene. Not the NCAA wrestling scene. Snyder, at the age of just 19, has captured the attention of the world wrestling community with last week’s gold medal performance at the Senior Wrestling World Championships.
Entering the tournament ranked 15th in the latest world rankings, Snyder took the 97 kg (roughly 213 lbs) bracket by storm en route to the gold medal. While relatively unproven at the international level (despite winning the Pan Am Games in July), the American representative faced a tough task right out of the gates as he met eleventh-ranked Pavlo Oliynik of Ukraine, who was a bronze medalist at the 2013 World Championships. Snyder dispatched the Ukrainian 2-1 before moving on the face No.8 Radoslaw Baran of Poland. Snyder took the action to Baran, winning 8-0 on his way to the quarterfinals.
Once in the quarterfinals, Snyder met a familiar foe in Jose Daniel Diaz Robertti. Snyder defeated the Venezuelan in the Pan Am semifinals by a 10-0 technical fall. While Snyder wasn’t able to keep Diaz from scoring (Diaz earned a pushout point), he was able to win with another technical fall over Diaz and move into the semifinals. In the semifinals, Snyder locked horns with Islamic Republic of Iran representative Abbas Tahan, who entered the tournament with a No. 13 ranking. Snyder neutralized Tahan’s attacks and was able to cruise to a decision victory, putting the 19 year old Snyder in the World Championship finals against Russia’s Abdusalam Gadisov.
Gadisov entered the tournament ranked as the No. 2 ranked wrestler in the world at 97 kg and had to be feeling incredibly confident about his final match. Not only was Gadisov the 2014 World Champion, but he was flying high after knocking off No. 1 Khetag Gazumov of Azerbaijan (the 2014 silver medalist and a chief rival of Gadisov) in the quarterfinals.
In the finals, Snyder did not roll over and play dead for the highly-touted Gadisov, rather pushing the pace and showing no signs of intimidation. Down 4-3 with just 30 seconds on the clock, Snyder scored a two point takedown on a single leg attack to take the lead 5-4 over the Russian. While Gadisov spent the remainder of the match trying feverishly to score a takedown of his own, Snyder was hit with a penalty for fleeing (avoiding action), tying the score at 5 apiece. Based on the tiebreaker criteria, Snyder won the match because he scored more 2 point moves than his opponent (2-1).
While Snyder previously won a Junior World Championship, he admitted after the tournament that the Senior World Championship was a better feeling due to the amount of extra work that he put in.
Regarding the work required to earn the World championship, Snyder had to face some of his toughest competition against his fellow countrymen. In the latest USA Wrestling rankings (which were posted this past April), Snyder was ranked No. 7 in the United States. Ohio State alum and frequent training partner J. D. Bergman stood as the fourth-ranked wrestler in the USA at 97 kilos. At the top of the rankings in the US was 2012 Olympic gold medalist Jake Varner, who Snyder dominated at the World Team trials back in June.
The last time Snyder competed for the Buckeyes, he was defeated in the NCAA finals, by pin of all things. Snyder has mentioned that loss a number of times since March, stating that it has fueled his efforts to improve on the mat. With a World Championship gold medal around his neck, it is hard to argue that his motivation strategy is not an effective one.
Also earning medals in freestyle wrestling at the World Championships were Americans Jordan Burroughs (earning his fourth gold medal at 74 kilos) and James Green (bronze medal at 70 kilos). Though the medal count was disappointing for the United States, Snyder and Green should become familiar faces atop medal podiums in the future along with Burroughs.
