Following a highly successful 2015 which included becoming the youngest ever American wrestling world champion, Kyle Snyder has decided to do the unthinkable and forgo his Olympic Redshirt to wrestle for his beloved Ohio State in the NCAA championships this year.
At the age of 19, Snyder won five matches in a row to win the World Championship, but he came up short in the NCAA final, losing to Kyven Gadson via pin.
Many have questioned Snyder’s decision to compete at a collegiate level during his preparation for the Olympic Games, but according to an interview with USA Wrestling, Snyder doesn’t feel that wrestling for Ohio State will negatively affect his pursuit of a gold medal:
“Once I figured out it was possible for me not only to travel overseas twice and wrestle in international events and wrestle in the training camps, but I could also help the team and compete at heavyweight and hopefully score enough points that we can win a second team title in a row, I decided that it was the best thing for me. My goal of being an Olympic champion still hasn’t changed. I think these couple of folkstyle matches that I’m going to wrestle are just going to help me sharpen my technique up for the Trials and then for the Olympic Games.”
Kyle Snyder’s road to Rio 2016 is likely to begin next month, when Ohio State face off with Cael Sanderson’s Penn State on February 5th.