Kyle Snyder flexes after winning his semifinal match at the World Championships (Photo/Jeff Beshey, The Guillotine)Snyder will now face returning World champion Abdusalam Gadisov of Russia in the gold-medal match tonight.
"I've been watching him wrestle since I was in probably seventh, eighth grade, watching him win a lot of tournaments, win a lot of matches," said Snyder, who becomes America's youngest World medalist in freestyle ever. "He's got some slick stuff, but I'm ready for it. So it should be a good match."
Snyder advanced to the gold-medal match by defeating Iran's Abbas Tahan 6-3. The Maryland native started quickly, picking up two takedowns in the first 30 seconds of the match to lead 4-0. Tahan would get on the scoreboard with a step-out point, and the first period ended 4-1 in favor of Snyder. The Iranian battled back with a takedown in the first minute of the second period to make it 4-3. With less than a minute left in the match Snyder scored a point off the shot clock to go up two points. Then in the closing seconds -- with the crowd chanting USA -- Snyder scored another point off a step-out to win by three and advance to the gold-medal match.
Snyder called the pro-American crowd "amazing."
"When you start hearing that USA chat, especially on a day like today, September 11, it's important to come out here and represent your country to the best of your ability," said Snyder.
Brandon Slay, who has has been working with Snyder since he was in high school training at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, believes there are many reasons why Snyder has reached such a high level at such a young age.
"I'm so proud of Kyle Snyder for his character, his discipline to work hard, his coachability ... all the attributes that you want in an athlete, he exhibits those," said Slay, an Olympic gold medalist in 2000. "That's why he's in the World finals."
Snyder won easily in the quarterfinals, beating Jose Danie Diaz Robertti of Venezuela 11-1 by technical superiority. In the first period Snyder scored with two takedowns and a step-out to lead 5-0 at the break. The Venezuelan wrestler found his first point in the second period with a step-out. Snyder responded with three more takedowns to put the match away.
In the round of 16 Snyder blanked Poland's Radoslaw Baran of Poland 8-0. Snyder led 2-0 after the first period, and then picked up three takedowns in the final period, with the last one coming with six seconds left.
Snyder started his tournament by defeating Ukraine's Pavlo Oliinyk, a 2013 World bronze medalist. Snyder scored the first point of the match off the shot clock, and added another shot-clock point in the second period to go up 2-0. Oliinyk would score a point off a step-out with 1:20 remaining. The Ukrainian had some late attacks, but Snyder was able to fend them off and earn a tough, hard-fought one-point victory.
Leigh Jaynes-Provisor advanced to the bronze-medal match in women's freestyle at 60 kilos. Aside from Snyder, she is the only other American wrestling for a medal tonight. U.S. men's freestyle wrestlers Reece Humphrey (61 kilos) and Jake Herbert (86 kilos) were eliminated from the competition in the first session.
After winning her first two matches, Jaynes-Provisor was headlocked and pinned in 18 seconds in her semifinal match against Oksana Herhel of Ukraine. Her opponent tonight in the bronze-medal match is Irina Petr Netreba of Azerbaijan.
Leigh Jaynes-Provisor advanced to the bronze-medal match in women's freestyle at 60 kilos (Photo/Jeff Beshey, The Guillotine)She dominated first-round opponent Madina Bakergenova of Kazakhstan, earning a 10-0 technical superiority.
Humphrey, competing in his third World Championships, was eliminated after losing by fall in the repechage to India's Bajrang Bajrang. The Indian wrestler was close to a technical superiority in the second period before earning the fall.
Aftter a first-round win, Humphrey was blanked 6-0 in his second match by Mongolia's Nomin Batbold. The Mongolian was able to get to his attacks and tie up Humphrey. All of Batbold's points came from takedowns, one in the first period, and two more in the final period, with the last one coming with 20 seconds remaining in the match. Humphrey was pulled back into repechage when Batbold reached the gold-medal match.
Reece Humphrey defeated Daulet Niyazbekov of Kazakhstan in his first match (Photo/Jeff Beshey, The Guillotine)"It's a little bit of a tough draw," Humphrey said of his tournament. "It's really disappointing. A lot of people's hard work and sacrifice. A lot of months cutting weight and just hard work.
With 61 kilos not an Olympic weight class, Humphrey will compete at the Olympic weight class of 65 kilos in 2016.
"I have to go up," Humphrey said. "There's no way I can make this weight ever again. It's miserable."
Jake Herbert, a 2009 World silver medalist, was one and done at 86 kilos. He was defeated in his first match by Sandro Aminashvili of Georgia 6-1. Aminashvili struck first, picking up a takedown to go up 2-0, which were the only points of the first period. A takedown by the Georgian just over a minute into the second period made the score 4-0. Herbert would get a step-out point to make it 4-1. Aminashvili responded with a takedown to make the score 6-1, which is how it would end. Herbert was knocked out of the tournament when the Georgian lost his next match to Selim Yasar of Turkey.
Jake Herbert after losing his first-round match at the World Championships (Photo/Jeff Beshey, The Guillotine)Herbert, a 2012 Olympian, will now shift his focus to 2016 and the Olympic Games.
"I want to win an Olympic gold medal," said Herbert. "I believe I'm capable. I know I am. I know I can beat these guys. I've beaten studs like that before. There's no reason that I can't still do it."
Tonight's final sessions begins at 6:30 p.m. PT.
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