Annika Wendle

Annika Wendle (born 15 September 1997 in Lahr) is a German freestyle wrestler. She is a two-time bronze medalist at the European Wrestling Championships. She won a silver medal at the 2020 Individual Wrestling World Cup held in Belgrade, Serbia. Wendle represented Germany at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.

Career

Wendle won the silver medal in the women's 53kg event at the 2018 World University Wrestling Championships held in Goiânia, Brazil.

In 2019, Wendle competed in the 53kg event at the European Wrestling Championships held in Bucharest, Romania where she was eliminated in her first match by Jessica Blaszka of the Netherlands. Blaszka went on to win one of the bronze medals in that event. In that same year, Wendle also competed in the 55kg event at the 2019 World Wrestling Championships held in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan without winning a medal.

In 2020, Wendle won one of the bronze medals in the 53kg event at the European Wrestling Championships held in Rome, Italy. In the same year, she also won the silver medal in the women's 55kg event at the 2020 Individual Wrestling World Cup held in Belgrade, Serbia. In the final, she lost against Iryna Kurachkina of Belarus. In May 2021, she failed to qualify for the Olympics at the World Olympic Qualification Tournament held in Sofia, Bulgaria. In October 2021, she was eliminated in her first match in the women's 53kg event at the 2021 World Wrestling Championships held in Oslo, Norway.

Wendle competed in the women's 53kg event at the 2022 European Wrestling Championships held in Budapest, Hungary where she was eliminated in her first match. She won one of the bronze medals in the women's 53kg event at the Grand Prix de France Henri Deglane 2023 held in Nice, France.

In 2024, Wendle competed in the women's 53kg event at the European Wrestling Championships held in Bucharest, Romania where she was eliminated in her first match. She competed at the 2024 European Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan hoping to qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. Wendle was eliminated in her third match and she did not qualify for the Olympics.

In July 2024, the Russian Wrestling Federation announced that Russian wrestlers would not take part after a unanimous decision to refuse to participate and Wendle was able to compete at the Olympics as a result. In August 2024, she competed in the women's 53kg event at the Olympics. She lost her bronze medal match against Choe Hyo-gyong of North Korea.

Achievements