Riza Kayaalp has been a staple in the international wrestling scene for over a decade at this point winning his first world title in 2011. He is a 3x Olympic Medalist falling to none other than Mijain Lopez-Nunez aka the goat those three times. The event he has excelled at consistently is the European Championships where he and fellow countryman Taha Akgul have 20 staggering combined European Championships Gold Medals.
He cruised through the first round over Alin Alexuc Ciurariu of Romania 9-0 via technical superiority then defeated Dariusz Attila Vitek of Hungary in the quarterfinals with a dominant performance 6-0. Took out Beka Kandelaki of Azerbaijan 1-1 on criteria in a match where Kayaalp was pinned in a stunner earlier this year. In the finals he did not disappoint with a decisive 4-1 decision over Danila Sotnikov of Italy winning his 11th European title.
Kayaalp has done everything there is to do in the sport, and multiple times at that. There is only one more thing to accomplish and he will most likely only have one more shot at that. #Paris2024
