Snyder, Retherford, Blades receive draws for Saturday’s wrestling at the Olympic Games in Paris

PARIS, France – The final three U.S. wrestlers scheduled to compete at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 have received their draws for their preliminary competition on Saturday.

Friday will feature the final of six women’s freestyle weight classes, as well as the last weight classes in men’s freestyle.

Competing on Saturday morning in men’s freestyle is 2016 Olympic champion and 2020 Olympic silver medalist Kyle Snyder at 97 kg and 2023 World champion and 2022 World silver medalist Zain Retherford at 65 kg. Wrestling in women’s freestyle is first-time Olympian Kennedy Blades at 76 kg.

Snyder, who is seeded No. 3, will open against 2023 Asian silver medalist Awusayiman Habila of China.

If Snyder wins his first match, his quarterfinal opponent will be the winner of the match between No. 6 seed Eric Thiele of Germany and Arturo Silot Torres of Cuba.  Thiele was a 2016 World silver medalist. Silot Torres was a 2021 Pan American Games champion and qualified at the Pan American Olympic Qualifier.

Should Snyder make it to the semifinals, the athletes who are in the other quarter bracket that could emerge to face him include No. 2 seed Akhmed Tazhudinov of Bahrain, No. 7 seed Alisher Yergali of Kazakhstan, Amirali Azarpira of Iran and Mostafa Elders of Egypt.

Tazhudinov was the 2023 World champion, where he beat Olympic champions Abdulrashid Sadulaev of Russia and Kyle Snyder of the USA. Originally from Russia, he did not represent them internationally at all, but has won eight of the nine international events he has entered for Bahrain. Yergali has a U23 World bronze medal and a U20 World silver medal. Azarpira is a 2021 and 2022 U23 World champion who qualified through the Asian Olympic qualifier. Elders qualified through the Africa/Oceania Qualifier.

Retherford, who is unseeded, will open against No. 2 seed Rahman Amouzadkhali of Iran, a 2022 World champion. Amouzadkhali of Iran also boasts three age-group World titles and won the 2024 Asian Championships. Retherford competed at 70 kg last year and did not receive ranking points while at a different weight class.

If Retherford wins his first match, his quarterfinal opponent would be the winner of No. 7 seed Islam Dudaev of Albania and Guku Akazawa of Samoa. Dudaev, who qualified through the World Olympic Games qualifier, won two age-group World medals for Russia before heading to Albania. Akazawa was a 2021 Oceania champion.  

Should Retherford make it to the semifinals, the athletes who are in the other quarter bracket that could emerge to face him are No. 3 seed Ismael Musukaev of Hungary, No. 6 seed Haji Aliev of Azerbaijan, Austin Gomez of Mexico and Ernzar Akmataliev of Kyrgyzstan.

Musukaev was a 2023 World champion, boasts two World bronze medals and was fifth in the 2020 Olympics. He wrestled for Russia before moving to Hungary. Aliyev is a three-time World champion and two-time Olympic medalist. Gomez wrestled for wrestled for Iowa State, Wisconsin and Michigan. Akmataliev was a 2021 World silver medalist and 2022 World bronze medalist and won a 2021 U23 World title.

Blades, who is unseeded, will open against No. 4 seed Catalina Axente of Romania. Axente was fifth in the 2023 Senior Worlds and was a 2020 European bronze medalist. She is also very successful at the Beach World Series.

If Blades wins her first match, her quarterfinal opponent would be the winner of No. 5 seed Milaimys Marin Portillo of Cuba and Yuliana Yaneva of Bulgaria. Marin was a 2018 Youth Olympic Games champion, 2019 U23 World champion and 2023 Pan American Games champion. Yaneva was a 2023 European champion and 2017 U20 World silver medalist.

Should Blades make it to the semifinals, the athletes who are in the other quarter bracket that could emerge to face her are No. 1 seed Aiperi Medet Kyzy of Kyrgyzstan, No. 8 seed Bernadett Nagy of Hungary, Juan Wang of China and Reetika of India

Medet Kyzy was a 2023 World silver medalist, placed fifth at the 2020 Olympics and added a World bronze in 202 and a 2021 U23 World title. Nagy won two age-group World medals and two Senior European bronze medals. Juan Wang was fifth in the 2018 World Championships. Reetika of India was 2023 U23 World champion and 2022 U20 World bronze medalist.

Official brackets on UWW Arena

https://arena.uww.org/sport-event/show/1ef379e8-e875-691a-8523-7b7ebc03fc97

All three of these U.S. athletes will compete in the first session on Saturday, which begins at 11:00 a.m. Paris time, after the completion of the repechage from Friday’s weight classes (74 kg MFS, 125 kg MFS, 62 kg WFS). The session will feature the Round of 16 and the quarterfinals in all three weights in Group 6.

Paris is six hours ahead of U.S. Eastern time zone, meaning this first session begins at 5:00 a.m. ET. All of the wrestling action is broadcast live on Peacock.

OLYMPIC GAMES PARIS 2024

At Paris, France

U.S. men’s freestyle first round draws for Saturday

65 kg – Zain Retherford, State College, Pa. (Titan Mercury WC/Nittany Lion WC)

Vs. Rahman Amouzadkhali (Iran), 2022 World champion, 3-time age-group World champion, 2024 Asian champion

97 kg – Kyle Snyder, State College, Pa. (Titan Mercury WC/Nittany Lion WC)

Vs. Awusayiman Habila (China), 2023 Asian silver medalist, 3^rd in 2023 Asian Games

U.S. women’s freestyle first round draws for Saturday

76 kg – Kennedy Blades, Chicago, Ill. (Sunkist Kids)

Vs. Catalina Axente (Romania), 5^th in the 2023 World Championships, 2020 European bronze medalist, 2x Beach World Series event champion