Olympic medalists Snyder, Blades among 20 U.S. Open champions qualified for 2025 Final X in Newark, N.J.

20 U.S. Open champions have been added to the 2025 Final X card, including Olympic medalists Kyle Snyder and Kennedy Blades, and will compete for coveted spots on Team USA. Final X is set for Saturday, June 14 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

Snyder, a 2016 Olympic champion, two-time Olympic medalist and three-time Olympian, is the most credentialed athlete in the Final X lineup to date. Snyder is a three-time World champion and seven-time World medalist. He took the first 97 kg qualifying spot in men’s freestyle for Final X by winning last week’s U.S. Open in Las Vegas.

Blades returns to Final X in women’s freestyle after winning the U.S. Open at 68 kg, down two weights from where she won her Olympic silver medal last summer in Paris, France. She will look to make her first U.S. Senior World Team in Newark. Blades’ Olympic teammate Kayla Miracle, a two-time Olympian and two-time World medalist, returned to take the U.S. Open and the first Final X spot at 62 kg.

Three Senior World medalists from the Paris Olympic quad were added to the list of qualifiers—2022 World silver medalist Yianni Diakomihalis and 2023 World bronze medalist Zahid Valencia in men’s freestyle, plus 2024 World bronze medalist Kylie Welker in women’s freestyle. All three are competing at different weights from where they won their World medal.

Women’s freestyle 59 kg U.S. Open champion Abigail Nette rounds out the list of past Senior World Team reps added to the field. Nette competed at the 2022 Senior World Championships.

The next generation of Team USA stars have arrived and are present for Final X. Four newcomers have won age-group World titles—Luke Lilledahl, Mitchell Mesenbrink and Wyatt Hendrickson in men’s freestyle, and Cristelle Rodriguez in women’s freestyle.

Age-group World medalists Jax Forrest, Joseph McKenna, Trent Hidlay, Audrey Jimenez and Alexandria Glaude, plus age-group World Team members Brianna Gonzalez and Amanda Martinez, won the U.S. Open and secured a Final X berth.

Rounding out the list of fresh Final X qualifiers are U.S. Open champions Evan Wick in men’s freestyle and Aine Drury in women’s freestyle.

Final X will determine the 2025 U.S. World Team in two-of-three international disciplines—men’s freestyle and women’s freestyle. In total, 20 weight classes will be contested, 10 in each discipline. The top two U.S. athletes in each weight classes will wrestle a best-of-three series at Final X to determine the U.S. representative at the 2025 Senior World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia.

Four weight classes have finalized matchups for Final X, two in each style. On the men’s freestyle side, 2024 Olympic silver medalist Spencer Lee will face Lilledahl at 57 kg, while two-time World medalist Vito Arujau is matched against Forrest at 61 kg. In women’s freestyle, three-time Olympic medalist Helen Maroulis draws Martinez at 57 kg, and two-time World medalist Macey Kilty is paired against Drury at 65 kg.

The remaining 16 athletes will be added to the Final X lineup at the 2025 Senior World Team Trials, which is set for May 15-16 in Louisville, Kentucky. The champions in the Senior Men’s Freestyle and Senior Women’s Freestyle divisions advance to Final X.

Final X will serve as the Beat the Streets New York Annual Benefit, the 15^th BTSNY Annual Benefit to date. These unique electrifying events help BTSNY raise more than $1 million each year to support local youth wrestling programs which empower young people in New York City. The BTSNY Annual Benefit after-party will follow the conclusion of Final X.

Benefit tickets and sponsorship packages (Final X plus exclusive after party celebration access), that also provide the best wrestling-event seats, are available at give.btsny.org/2025FinalX. Proceeds from Benefit tickets and sponsorship packages will directly help BTSNY serve NYC youth. For more information on ticket packages, email BTSNY Executive Director Brendan Buckley at bbuckley@btsny.org. 

Event-only tickets for Final X without access to the BTSNY after-party celebration are available on Ticketmaster.

FloWrestling will serve as the host broadcast partner for Final X. Fans can watch the event live or on-demand at FloWrestling.com.

Online results for Final X will be available on USA Bracketing, USA Wrestling’s new best-in-class event management software.

Final X will be held in two sessions on Saturday, June 14. Session I, which starts at 2 p.m. (ET), will feature round one in each best-of-three series. Session II, which starts at 5 p.m. (ET), will continue with round two and if-necessary round three matches. Match order for each session will be provided at a later date.

For more information about Final X, please visit themat.com.