You have to go back to 2014 to find a World or Olympic team where Kyle Snyder wasn't the rep for Team USA at 97 kilograms. Can Hayden Zillmer break the streak, or does Snyder make his 11th straight team? 

Kyle Snyder Stats

Hometown: Woodbine, MD

College: Ohio State

NCAA finishes: 2nd, 1st, 1st, 1st

Career record: 75-5

Big Ten titles: 3

Year of graduation: 2018

Previous world or Olympic teams: 8 world, 2 Olympic

World medals: 3 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze

Olympic medals: 1 gold (Rio), 1 silver (Tokyo)

Hayden Zillmer Stats

Hometown: Crosby, MN

College: North Dakota State

Weight class freshman year: 149lbs

Weight class senior year: 184lbs

NCAA finishes: did not qualify, round of 32, 6th, round of 16

College record: 94-29

Year of graduation: 2016

World teams: 1 (2022)

Weight class on world team: 275lbs

Ranking Series medals: 1 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze

Previous Meeting

There was only one previous Snyder-Zillmer meeting that I could find in the archives. Snyder teched Zillmer 11-0 at the 2019 Bill Farrell 97kg semifinals.

Watch Snyder over Zillmer at the 2019 Farrell:

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How They Got To Final X

For the first time since 2015, Kyle Snyder could not rely on being a returning medalist to punch his ticket to Final X (or the finals of the World or Olympic Team Trials). And so for the first time since 2015 (when he was freshman at Ohio State) Kyle entered the US Open in April of 2025. 

Snyder dominated all four of his bouts at the Open, winning by tech-fall each time and going unscored upon in the process. It took Kyle less than eight total minutes of match time earn his Open title and earn a spot in Final X. 

Zillmer took a more circuitous path. He wrestled at the Open at heavyweight but dropped a close 6-6 match via criteria to Demetrius Thomas in the quarterfinals. He then beat Trent Hillger in the consolation semifinals before forfeiting in the third-place bout. 

Hayden, the Jack Pine Savage, then dropped to 97kg for the Team Trials Challenge Tournament in May. In a skimpy field, Zillmer had a bye to the semis, where he edged a win over Eric Schultz, 2-1. Another close win in the finals, 5-3 over Jay Aiello, and Zillmer had made it back to Final X. 

Watch Zillmer punch his ticket to Final X: 

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The Storyline

Kyle Snyder has been a staple on senior World and Olympic teams since he was a teenager. Today he's just 29 years old, and may lock down the 97kg starting job for years to come. 

Kyle's consistency against domestic competition has been nothing short of remarkable. His last loss in any style to a fellow American was to Adam Coon in a dual meet in February of 2018. His last loss to an American in freestyle was at the 2016 Olympic Team Trials to Jake Varner. 

Snyder's last freestyle loss to anyone (outside of the team trials loss) that took place in the Western Hemisphere occurred in 2014, when he was still in high school and was defeated by Russian legend Khadzimurat Gatsalov at the Beat the Streets event in May in New York City, 6-3. 

Zillmer's career has not been as impressive -- few in the history of American wrestling has been -- but there has been a lot of growth throughout his career, both technically and literally. 

Hayden first wrestled at Fargo in the 84-pound weight class, though he didn't stay there long. He grew into a collegiate middle weight at the start of his career at North Dakota State, but finished as an All-American 184-pounder. Zillmer would continue to grow physically larger once he hit the freestyle circuit, wrestling up at 97kg before bumping all the way up to heavyweight, eventually making a senior world team at 125kg, an astonishing 191 pounds heavier than what he weighed in his early days inside the Fargodome. 

The Matchup

Kyle Snyder is the quintessential upperweight who combines strength, speed, and timing. His ability to match the power and quickness of seasoned veterans at a teenage phenom marked him as a rising star early in his career. That stardom shone brighter and brighter as he racked up a trophy case full of international awards.

Facing that much experience and a dearth of comparable accolades, Zillmer will have the daunting task of finding an attack route that surprises Snyder, or at least presents him with problems he didn't think he'd encounter in the series. 

Prediction

Kyle Snyder has been so automatic over the last ten years that a 2-0 series win is the only prediction I can credibly provide. That is not to say that I am putting Zillmer's odds at zero percent, or that larger upsets haven't happened before. However, given that Snyder has only ever lost to wrestlers that provide a level of explosiveness that Zillmer has thus far not exhibited himself on the international stage, I have to expect that we see Kyle Snyder on his ninth consecutive World or Olympic Team.