Heavyweight, Freestyle (≤97 kg), Men

This was probably the most anticipated wrestling class at the Tokyo Olympics, as the two top seeds were considered by many as the best freestyle wrestlers in the world. The #1 seed was ROC team member Abdulrashid Sadulayev, who had won the gold medal at the Rio Olympics as a light-heavyweight and was twice a World Champion at that weight.

After Rio he moved up to the heavyweight class to face Kyle Snyder, the #2 seed in Tokyo, who was the defending gold medallist in this class. Snyder had faced Sadulayev at the World Championships in 2017-19, winning in 2017, but the Russian came out on top in 2018-19. Nobody else was given much chance for the gold medal.

Sadulayev and Snyder both made it to the semi-finals, seemingly wrestling carefully, just to be certain there were no mistakes on the way to the expected final. In the semis, Sadulayev defeated Cuban Reineris Salas by a safe margin on points, 4-0. Likewise, Snyder took out Turkey’s Süleyman Karadeniz on points, 5-0.

The final was relatively close, but in the second period, Sadulayev started to establish control and moved ahead, eventually winning on points, 6-3, to earn his second gold medal as Snyder had to settle for silver.

Salas won a bronze medal in the repêchage final over Azerbaijani Şərif Şərifov, but only by judges’ decision after they tied in points, 3-3, in regulation time. Karadeniz did not fare as well, losing the bronze medal to Italian Abraham Conyedo, 6-2.