Kyle SNYDER of the United States hopes to wrestle Hassan Yazdani of Iran at 97kg at the 2026 World Championships in Astana.
ASTANA, Kazakhstan (October 23) -- Kyle SNYDER (USA) has never faced Hassan YAZDANI (IRI) in an official match, given that the two superstars have built their individual legends in disparate weight classes.
The paths of the fellow 2016 Olympic and multi-time world champions may finally cross this week in Astana, and both – along with the entire wrestling world, no doubt – would like to see them face each other.
“I spoke with Yazdani maybe a month ago and we both said it would be great to compete against each other at this tournament, so hopefully it happens,” Snyder said at a press conference Friday on the eve of this year’s World Championships, where he will attempt to defend his freestyle 97kg title and claim a fifth gold overall.
For Snyder, the ninth World Championships of his career could hardly be more challenging -- and exciting.
“I think that this is the deepest weight class that I’ve ever wrestled in in my life,” Snyder said. “There’s a lot of really tough guys in the weight class. That’s what makes it exciting.”
It’s not hard to see what has gotten the juices flowing for the 30-year-old two-time Olympic medalist.
A week before the 97kg competition begins, one known factor is that Snyder, as the top seed, faces a potential quarterfinal (!) clash with longtime nemesis and eighth seed Abdulrashid SADULAEV (RUS), who will be chasing a seventh world gold.
What remains unknown is who Snyder will have to first beat to get to the quarterfinals. And, as he pointed out in the press conference at Barys Arena, any one of a number of unseeded wrestlers are capable of taking down the reigning champion in the first round.
Topping that list is Yazdani. After taking a second career Olympic silver at the 2024 Paris Olympics at 86kg, he took the great leap upward this year to 97kg. Yazdani showed he could handle the extra weight by defeating world silver medalist and Paris bronze medalist Amirali AZARPIRA (IRI) in a two-match playoff to make the world team.
Snyder said he was impressed with Yazdani and said he appeared to have no difficulty making the transition in terms of power.
“When I watched him wrestle Azarpira, I didn’t see any difference between [the two. They] both looked similar in regard to strength, and I think Azarpira is one of the strongest guys in the weight class,” Snyder said.
Snyder has gotten a tiny glimpse of what he might expect should he face Yazdani in Astana.
“I wrestled Yazdani one time in practice, for about 20 minutes,” Snyder said. “It was many years ago, so we haven’t wrestled in a while.”
Still, he knows that Yazdani could not have accomplished what he did without having what Snyder called “the will of a champion.”
“He’s so determined, he’s so resilient. I think about all the things that he has gone through and experienced in his career. All of the legends that he has defeated. There aren’t many wrestlers who have had that level of experience.
“And then, of course, tactically everyone knows he’s going to underhook you, he’s going to wrestle at a really high pace immediately when the match starts. He’s a good scrambler, he has good leg attacks. So, being ready for all those different things. I think that he’s a very worthy competitor.”
As for Sadulaev, when pressed Snyder singled him out as his toughest foe. The two have had epic battles in the past that have been dubbed “Snydulaev.”
“I haven’t wrestled Yazdani so I don’t know what that match would be like,” Snyder said. “But, just from my past, Abdulrashid Sadulaev is the toughest competitor.”
Still, experience keeps Snyder from looking ahead to a potential encounter.
“We’ll be in the same quarter, but we both still got to win in order to wrestle each other,” Snyder said. “I think at a tournament like this that the wisest thing to do is take it match by match, because there are a lot of guys who are unseeded who I potentially wrestle first who are really high-level champions in the sport.
“We’ve spent all summer preparing for all the different guys I could wrestle in the bracket…The guys in my weight class are so talented and there’s going to be a lot of matches that come down to one exchange, one point, one second.”
It is interesting to note that 10 years after all three struck gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Snyder (97kg), Sadulaev (86kg) and Yazdani (74kg) are competing in the same weight class.
The Paris champion, Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN) adds a fourth Olympic gold medalist to the field, to go along with world and/or Olympic medalists Magomedkhan MAGOMEDOV (AZE), Givi MATCHARASHVILI (GEO), Arash YOSHIDA (JPN) and Rizabek AITMUKHAN (KAZ).
With five days left to go until the draw for 97kg, Snyder said he is unconcerned about who his first-round opponent will be.
“I don’t care, because I have no control over it,” he said. “I like looking at the brackets when they come out and seeing who I’m going to wrestle and get my mind ready for that. But at this point, I don’t care. I’ll start getting ready when they come out.”