Ukraine's Resilience

Ukraine's women's team has been on the rise during the past couple years, but the tense political situation in their homeland put the team's participation at Euros in question. Thankfully, despite the indescribable horrors happening in their nation, they were able to field a solid squad in Hungary. Many of the women undertook dangerous journeys from their homes to the western city of Lviv, where they congregated before heading to Budapest to train. The women had less than two weeks to prepare for the event. 

The young team -- missing four of Ukraine's five Tokyo Olympians -- put together a sound showing despite the adverse circumstances. 2021 U23 World Champion Alina Hrushyna Akobiia scored a massive upset over Olympic bronze medalist Evelina Nikolova to win her first Euro title. Fellow gold medalist Tetiana Rizhko dominated her way to the top of the podium at 65 kilos. 18-year-old Oleksandra Khomenets put together an impressive follow-up performance to her World medal run last year in Oslo, looking great despite losing the 55 kg gold medal match in the final seconds to Romania's Andreea Ana. Though the team ended up finishing second, their resilience through hardship was inspiring to wrestling fans worldwide. 

Ringaci Looks Like A Threat At 68 KG

After jumping between 62 kg and 68 kg in the years leading up to the Olympics, Irina Ringaci stunningly failed to qualify Moldova at either weight for the Tokyo Games. Despite this disappointment, she was still able to earn Junior and Senior World titles at the non-Olympic weight of 65kg in 2021. But with Paris 2024 just around the corner, Ringaci decided to make the 3-kilo leap up to the Olympic weight of 68 kilos. She looked great in Budapest. She kicked off her tournament with a controlling win over 2021 Euro Champ (at 72kg) Alla Belinska and followed that up with an exciting comeback victory over Adela Hanzlickova. Her finals win over France's Pauline Lecarpentier was dominant, ending 10-0 in 4 minutes. 

Despite the shift up in weight, Ringaci looks strong at 68 kg and not at all limited by her size. She was consistently able to hit big throws against her opponents and stayed in solid position against each of her competitors. While she's picked up some notable wins so far, it'll be vital to see her tested against some of the top athletes at 68 kilos -- women like Alla Cherkasova, Meerim Zhumanazarova and Tamyra Mensah-Stock. Keep an eye out for these potential meetups as she looks to establish herself as a real contender this quad at 68 kg. 

Turkey Wins Tight Team Race

In the last five European Championships, Russia has taken home four of the women's wrestling team titles. Russia's absence in Budapest -- along with that of Belarus -- created a wide-open team race. Moldova's five-woman team had an exceptionally strong first day, crowning two champs in Irina Ringaci and Anastasia Nichita, but lacked the depth at other weight classes to maintain their spot at the top of the pack. Turkey also crowned two champions on Day 1: Yasemin Adar at 76 kg and Evin Demirhan at 50 kg. They went on to earn a pair of bronze medals, carrying them to top honors. Ukraine overcame massively adverse circumstances to claim second place, medaling at four weights but falling just 10 points short of overcoming Turkey (while missing many of their biggest stars). Should Russia and Belarus remain unable to compete for the rest of 2022, it'll be interesting to see if these European countries can crack into the global team race -- or if the powers of Japan, China, USA and Mongolia will prevent them from sneaking into contention. 

Rising Stars Notch High-Level Wins 

Several of Europe's young talents had defining wins to establish themselves as women to keep a close eye on this year. Emma Malmgrem had a fantastic run to take top honors at 53 kilos, propelling herself to gold with a maturity on the mat much beyond her 20 years. The Swede's impressive positional wrestling and composure in all situations led to her defeat of two World medalists, pinning 2021 bronze Katarzyna Krawczyk in the semis and battling to a 3-2 win over two-time World bronze Maria Prevolaraki in the finals. Malmgren will look to keep the Swedish tradition of success at 53 kilos alive as she assumes the spot once held by Olympic medalist Sofia Mattsson. 

Andreea Ana made history for Romania for the third time in the past six months, becoming the first woman from her country to win U23 Euros, U23 Worlds and Senior Euros. Ana is incredibly savvy defensively, going unscored upon en route to the finals, and demonstrated an ability to win close matches with a last-second takedown against Oleksandra Khomenets for gold. Ana will indisputably be amongst the list of contenders to medal at Worlds this year. 

Finally, Alina Hrushyna Akobiia won a huge match for her nation when she defeated Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Evelina Nikolova 6-2. Akobiia's come-up has been significant over the past year: she qualified Ukraine for the Olympic Games, but was forced to pull out due to an injury. She then finished her 2021 season strong with a U23 World title. Her win here reaffirms that she was absolutely in contention for a podium spot last summer, and she'll inarguably be a global threat to medal this year on the senior level. 

Epic 76 KG Clash Previews 2022 

American heavyweight great Adeline Gray has largely dominated the world scene for years, but she'll be absent from the international stage in 2022: she's pregnant with twins! This exciting news, combined with the retirement of Olympic champion Aline Rotter Focken, leaves the heavyweight field wide open at this year's Worlds. Two of the top contenders, Olympic bronze medalist Yasemin Adar of Turkey and 2021 World Finalist Epp Mae of Estonia, faced off in the European Championship finals. This was the third clash between the two; Adar has controlled the rivalry, coming out on top each time. However, this bout was the closest the two have had against each other -- Adar's lone takedown came in the last minute as Mae, down on criteria, desperately tried to even the score. It would be no surprise to see these two wrestling greats square off in the World Finals in Belgrade this year.