Kyle Snyder Is Competing At Final X Wrestling 2023: What You Should Know
Kyle Snyder Is Competing At Final X Wrestling 2023: What You Should Know
Kyle Snyder qualified for Final X Wrestling 2023 as the 97kg gold medalist at the 2022 World Wrestling Championships in Belgrade, Serbia. What to know.
In September 2022, Kyle Snyder claimed his third world championship. It was his first since 2017. The victory helped the United States finish the event atop the medal table for the first time in history (15 medals).
The 2016 Olympic champion defeated Slovakia’s Batyrbek Tsakulov in the gold-medal match in Serbia.
As a note, Russia and Belarus were banned from the 2022 World Championships due to the war in Ukraine.
Snyder’s Final X opponent will be J’den Cox, who was the 97kg champion at the 2023 U.S. Open Wrestling Championships in April.
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A Brief History Of The Great Kyle Snyder vs J'denCox Rivalry
2023 Final X Wrestling Matchups
Snyder and Cox have wrestled each other at the youth level, in college and many times in their domestic/international careers.
This year’s edition of Final X presented by Tezos will take place at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on June 10. The event will feature the top two wrestlers at every weight class in a best-of-three series, with the winners making the 2023 United States World Team.
The world team will travel to Belgrade, Serbia, to compete at the 2023 Senior World Championships from Sept. 16-24.
Check below for the current matchups for Final X and a brief explanation of how each wrestler qualified for the 2023 event.
Here’s what to know about Kyle Snyder:
Kyle Snyder Wrestled Sans Rival, Abdulrashid Sadulayev
With Russia and Belarus absent from the 2022 World Championships, that meant Snyder’s rival, Russian Abdulrashid Sadulayev, was not there to defend his title.
The two met in four of the five previous global events (World Championships and Olympics), with Sadulayev winning the last three times.
Kyle Snyder Is On Incredible Streak Of Success
Snyder has won a medal at the World Championships or Olympics each year since 2015 – that’s eight consecutive years.
He holds the distinction of having been the youngest world champion when he won his first in 2015 (he was 19), and he then became the youngest Olympic winner when he took gold in 2016. He’s now 27.
In addition to three world championships and an Olympic title, Snyder has a silver Olympic medal and two silvers and a bronze from the World Championships.
Kyle Snyder Starred For Ohio State Wrestling
In his freshman year with the Buckeyes, Snyder was the national runner-up at 197 pounds. He didn’t stay down for long – literally or in his weight class.
He was stuck between weight classes and decided to move up to the heavyweight class (285). He won three consecutive NCAA titles there (2016, 2017, 2018), along with Big Ten titles the same years.
After his senior season, Snyder earned the AAU Sullivan Award, presented to the top amateur athlete in the United States. He was the first wrestler to win in almost two decades.
He is the only wrestler in history to win the world, NCAA and Olympic titles in the same year.
In three years of high school wrestling, Snyder was 179-0. He decided to skip his final year of high school competition and do his training at the U.S. Olympic Training Center.
Kyle Snyder Wrestling Ranking
In the most recent Domestic Men’s Freestyle rankings on FloWrestling, Snyder ranked first in the 97kg weight class.
Here are the top 5:
- Kyle Snyder
- J’den Cox
- Isaac Trumble
- Tim Dudley
- Silas Allred
Here are the complete rankings.
How Wrestlers Qualify For Final X Wrestling 2023
A wrestler can qualify for Final X in one of three ways.
First, all 2022 senior world medalists automatically qualified for Final X. There were seven wrestlers in men’s freestyle, six in women’s freestyle and zero in Greco-Roman who met this criterion.
Next, all champions from the 2023 US Open (held April 26-30) automatically qualified for Final X.
Finally, for the weights that didn’t have a returning world medalist, the World Team Trials Challenge Tournament (May 20-21) champion will earn a spot in Final X.
Men’s Freestyle Matchups At Final X Wrestling 2023
- 57 kg: *Thomas Gilman vs Zane Richards
- 61 kg: Vito Arujau vs Nahshon Garrett
- 65 kg: *Yianni Diakomihalis vs Nick Lee
- 70 kg: *Zain Retherford vs Tyler Berger
- 74 kg: *Kyle Dake vs Jason Nolf
- 79 kg: *Jordan Burroughs vs Chance Marsteller
- 86 kg: *David Taylor vs Aaron Brooks
- 92 kg: Michael Macchiavello vs Zahid Valencia
- 97kg: *Kyle Snyder vs J’den Cox
- 125 kg: Gable Steveson vs Mason Parris
*Denotes 2022 World Medalist
Women’s Freestyle Matchups At Final X Wrestling 2023
- 50 kg: *Sarah Hildebrandt vs Audrey Jimenez
- 53 kg: *Dominique Parrish vs Katie Gomez
- 55 kg: Alisha Howk vs Jacarra Winchester
- 57 kg: *Helen Maroulis vs Xochitl Mota-Pettis
- 59 kg: Michaela Beck vs Jennifer Page
- 62 kg: *Kayla Miracle vs Adaugo Nwachukwu
- 65 kg: Mallory Velte vs Macey Kilty
- 68 kg: Forrest Molinari vs Emma Bruntil
- 72 kg: *Amit Elor vs Joye Levendusky
- 76 kg: Kennedy Blades vs. Adeline Gray
*Denotes 2022 World Medalist
Men’s Greco-Roman Matchups At Final X Wrestling 2023
- 55 kg: Brady Koontz vs Dalton Duffield
- 60 kg: Dalton Roberts vs Ildar Hafizov
- 63 kg: Hayden Tuma vs Xavier Johnson
- 67 kg: Robert Perez III vs Alejandro Sancho
- 72 kg: Justus Scott vs Patrick Smith
- 77 kg: Kamal Bey vs Aliaksandr Kikiniou
- 82 kg: Spencer Woods vs Ryan Epps
- 87 kg: Alan Vera vs Zachary Braunagel
- 97 kg: Josef Rau vs Christian Dulaney
- 130 kg: Cohlton Schultz vs Adam Coon
How To Watch Final X Wrestling 2023
Final X will stream live on FloWrestling and the FloSports app.
FloWresting also will serve as home of match archives and provide the latest news from Final X.