#WrestleZagreb

Rising Star Hendrickson Aims to Make Splash in Senior Worlds Debut

Friday, September 12, 2025 - 17:23 By Ken Marantz

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ZAGREB, Croatia (September 12) -- Sitting on the opposite end of the dais from the reigning world champion, Wyatt HENDRICKSON (USA) expressed confidence that they will be meeting again soon, but in much closer quarters.

If all goes according to plan for both wrestlers, Hendrickson will face Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI) in the semifinals of freestyle 125kg when the World Championships get started on Saturday in Zagreb.

"This is my first senior-level World Championships and I'm very grateful for that," Hendrickson said at a press conference on Friday that was also attended by Zare. "But I also think that the opportunity presented itself because I have grown as a wrestler. I've risen to the level of my competition, and I'm ready to test myself against the best in the world."

It doesn't get much better than Zare when talk of the heavyweights comes up. The two-time Olympic medalist is gunning for his second straight world title and third overall, all still at the tender age of 24.

Hendrickson, also 24 (in fact, he is three days older than Zare), may lack the experience on the senior level, but in recent years, he has raised his game enough to join the handful of foes with the potential to knock of the great Zare.

The American said his aim is to "continue to not only just wrestle at the highest level, but prove I'm meant to be here. Wrestling is something I've been doing since I was 5 years old and all that wrestling has brought me to be here today in Zagreb."

After placing fifth at the 2021 world juniors (U20), Hendrickson struck gold at the world U23 in 2023. In May this year, he capped his senior-level debut with a victory at the Pan-Am Championships.

But his most impressive triumph, and one that made the world take notice, came in a different format of the sport. In March, he stunned Tokyo Olympic champion Gable STEVESON (USA) in the final of the NCAA Championships, denying him a third title and ending his 70-match winning streak.

Even Zare said he was aware of the upset. "I would like to congratulate you for the win over Gable, he's one of the best in this weight category," Zare said. "Some of the seconds of your match are in my mind, I remember that. But originally, I don't have too much information about this American wrestler."

Hendrickson acknowledges he has been cultivated in the American folkstyle. But he feels confident of the transition he has made to freestyle.

"I've been training to wrestle foreign styles," he said. "The majority of my wrestling has been in [American] folkstyle. But the transition I've been able to make the past couple of months has shown that I'm prepared for this. I'm ready to wrestle the best in the world."

Helping in Hendrickson's preparations has been one of the sport's legends. Hendrickson originally attended and competed collegiately at the Air Force Academy, but transferred last year to Oklahoma State, where he came under the wing of former Olympic and three-time world champion David TAYLOR (USA).

Hendrickson is one of three USA wrestlers who are members of the Cowboy RTC, the wrestling club affiliated with Oklahoma State. (Five others will be wrestling in Zagreb with three of them for other nations.)

"Coach David Taylor is very, very excited to be coaching and share with us the knowledge he has learned in the great sport of wrestling," Hendrickson said. "The knowledge that he has been able to bring to me, it's just day and night. I never understood some parts of wrestling and he filled in all of the gaps. Where I maybe have fallen short in the past at some of these tournaments, those gaps are now filled. And I just have nothing but confidence."

The draw for the freestyle weight classes came out a short time before the press conference, and Hendrickson was asked about a possible clash with Zare in the semifinals.

"I love it," he said. "Zare is an excellent wrestler. But -- I don't want to brag on myself -- but I'm also a pretty great wrestler. That's most likely the match we're going to see tomorrow evening."

Hendrickson, however, is not one to get ahead of himself, and contends that he does not concern himself with such details as his opponents in the draw. Nor does he have a certain foe whom he particularly looks forward to facing.

"I'm excited to go through every single person in this bracket," he said. "Obviously there's no one specific because I don't care what my placement is in the bracket. That's not what I look at.

"What I look at is the next opponent ahead of me. One match at a time, one point at a time, one second at a time on the wrestling mat. I'm prepared, I'm ready and tomorrow I'm going to make a splash at the World Championships."

Zare, who has taken over the leadership mantle of the Iranian team in the absence of injured star Hassan YAZDANI (IRI), has competed just once this year, winning the Tirana Ranking Series title in February.

"I have done my best during the last 13 months to be prepared and I am focused on my goal, which is to be champion of this competition," Zare said.

And should Hendrickson or any of the other top competitors, such as European champion Giorgi MESHVILDISHVILI (AZE) or two-time world medalist Lkhagvagerel MUNKHTUR (MGL), make things difficult, then all the better.

"Finally, I want to say that when the competition is tough, it's going to be more joyful for everyone," Zare said.

#WrestleTirana

Kayaalp's 13: New Golden Standard Set in Europe

Tuesday, April 21, 2026 - 15:27 By United World Wrestling Press

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TIRANA, Albania (April 20) -- On Tuesday evening in Tirana, Riza KAYAALP (TUR) did something that for years existed and was expected to continue to exist only as a hypothetical.

He won his 13th European title in Tirana on Tuesday, beating Darius VITEK (HUN), 7-1, in the 130kg European Championships. 2026 joined 2023, 2022, 2021, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012 and 2010.

Riza KAYAALP (TUR)Riza KAYAALP (TUR) turns Darius VITEK (HUN) in the 130kg final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

As the referee raised his powerfully sculpted right arm in triumph, Kayaalp raised the ceiling in Greco-Roman. He moved past the legendary Aleksandr KARELIN’s 12 European gold medals, the last of which he had won in 2000. Generations of wrestlers had competed, won and lost, knowing all the while that that number would outlast them. Until Kayaalp finally eclipsed it.

The moment itself wasn’t dramatic in the way history is often expected to be. Just a raised hand, a nod and a lap of honor around the mat with the Turkish flag around his shoulders. That’s been the story of Kayaalp’s career.

Riza KAYAALP (TUR)Riza KAYAALP (TUR) speaks to the media after winning the gold medal at the European Championships. (United World Wrestling / Jake Kirkman)

Born in Yozgat, in central Turkey, Kayaalp would have inherently understood the role of wrestling in Turkish sporting heritage and the place champions of the sport have historically held in the nation. He would have grown up in the shadow of two-time Olympic and eight-time European champion Hamza YERLIKAYA, who defined Turkish wrestling in the 1990s and like everyone else in the sport, under the global shadow of Karelin.

Slowly and methodically Kayaalp would try to match them. His career has been relentless and consistent rather than spectacular. Since his first European gold in 2010, won as a twenty-year old, Kayaalp has claimed titles across two decades. He’s adapted through rule changes, generations of opponents, and brutal physical wear and tear of time itself.

Apart from his European titles, he has five World Championships gold medals, and three Olympic medals -- a bronze in London 2012, silver in Rio 2016, bronze again in Tokyo 2020. Every time a major medal was to be decided over the past decade and a half, Kayaalp would with almost absurd reliability be counted in the mix.

Riza KAYAALP (TUR)Riza KAYAALP (TUR) with Taha AKGUL (TUR) at the medal ceremony in Tirana. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

For all of Kayaalp’s longevity, his career has always carried the one obvious gap compared to Karelin or Yerlikaya -- no Olympic gold. That absence will still be there. That gap is unlikely to close any time soon. As such the European mark became a milestone within his grasp. Or in the last few years, a milestone just out of grasp.

Indeed, for Kayaalp the title will provide a sense of closure. He had equalled Karelin’s record at the 2023 European championships in Zagreb. Prior to that tournament, he had in an interview with Anadalou Agency spoken of equalling Karelin’s record, breaking it at the 2024 European Championships and finally finishing his career on a high note with a gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

But things would not go as planned. At the 2024 European Championships, Kayaalp was pinned in the final by Sergey SEMENOV (UWW) -- only the second final he had ever lost in Europe. A few months later despite qualifying for the Olympics he was unable to compete due to a medication issue linked to treatment for persistent tinnitus. His appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport was upheld, clearing the way for his return. He would describe the period as the toughest of his career.

But the ordeal had left him with a new purpose and a desire to exit the stage on his own terms.

“For an athlete with so many titles, this was the worst thing that could happen,” he said. “Because of a simple issue, we faced a huge problem. But I always believed I would overcome it, return to my job and leave the sport on my own terms,” he had told Anadalou Agency at the start of 2026 when he made his return to international competition at the Zagreb Ranking series earlier this year.

“There was fatigue before. In this 18-month period, my desire to work came back stronger. I was already motivated to be champion. Now it is even greater. I feel renewed,” he had said.

While Kayaalp has said he would compete until the 2028 Olympics, he had also spoken of the unfinished business he had had in Europe. “I was so close,” he said. “Fourteen finals, 12 European titles, one more for the record, and then something unwanted happens. But everything is resolved. To bring that record to my country would mean a lot,” he had said then.

He had come close once and fallen short. That could have been the ending -- a near miss against an immortal number. Instead, with his 13th European title, Kayaalp gets to tell his story. He stands alone as the most decorated European wrestler of all time.

Records though exist to be broken. At some point, inevitably, another wrestler will look at Kayaalp's number and decide to chase it. But at least for some time, records exist to define limits. For over a quarter of a century that limit was Karelin’s 12. Now it’s Kayaalp’s 13.