Kyle Snyder
Olympic champion at 20 who never stops coming forward
- Born
- November 20, 1995, Woodbine, Maryland, US
- Nationality
United States- Height
- 180 cm (5′11″)
- Style
- Pace-and-pressure leg attacker
- Weight
- 97 kg
- Active
- 2014–present
- Status
- Active · age 30
The medals
1 Olympic gold, 4 world titles
The story
yle Snyder was a world champion at 19 and an Olympic champion at 20, winning 97 kg gold in Rio in 2016 while still wrestling for Ohio State, where he won three NCAA heavyweight titles. His 6-5 win over Abdulrashid Sadulaev in the 2017 world final launched the defining rivalry of his generation; Sadulaev took several rematches, including the Tokyo Olympic final. Snyder kept coming back. He regained the world title in 2022, and in 2025 he scored the deciding point on a single leg with eight seconds left to beat Iran's Amir Ali Azarpira for a fourth world crown. In July 2026 he pinned Sadulaev in Tbilisi to keep his Real American Freestyle light heavyweight title.
Tap a technique with an arrow to learn how it works.
- Olympic champion (Rio 2016)
- Olympic silver medalist (Tokyo 2020)
- World champion ×4 (2015, 2017, 2022, 2025)
- Pan American Games champion (2015, 2019, 2023)
- NCAA heavyweight champion (2016, 2017, 2018)
- Real American Freestyle light heavyweight champion
- James E. Sullivan Award (2017)
- NCAA Championships Most Outstanding Wrestler (2016)
Defining matches
- 2016WINvs Khetag Gazyumov (Rio Olympic final, 2-1)
- 2017WINvs Abdulrashid Sadulaev (World final, 6-5)
- 2021LOSSvs Abdulrashid Sadulaev (Tokyo 2020 Olympic final, 3-6)
- 2025WINvs Amir Ali Azarpira (World final, 4-2)
- 2026WINvs Abdulrashid Sadulaev (Real American Freestyle, Tbilisi, fall)
Hand-fight at a pace your partner can't match: Snyder's forward pressure makes opponents tire or reach, and when they reach he finishes a head-outside single. Pair hard hand-fighting rounds with single-leg entries off your partner's reach.
