Iryna Zaretska

Irina Zaretska (born 4 March 1996) is a Ukrainian (until 2014) and Azerbaijani (since 2015) karateka. She won the silver medal in the women's +61kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan. She is a three-time gold medalist in the women's 68kg event at the World Karate Championships (2018, 2021 and 2023). Zaretska is also a three-time gold medalist in this event at the Islamic Solidarity Games (2017, 2022 and 2025) and a two-time gold medalist at the European Games (2015 and 2023).

Career

Zaretska won a bronze medal in the women's kumite 68kg event at the 2014 World Karate Championships held in Bremen, Germany. At the 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games held in Baku, Azerbaijan, she won the gold medal in the women's kumite 68kg event.

At the 2018 European Karate Championships held in Novi Sad, Serbia, Zaretska won the silver medal in the women's kumite 68kg event. In the final, she lost against Elena Quirici of Switzerland.

In 2019, Zaretska won the silver medal in the women's kumite 68kg event at the European Games held in Minsk, Belarus. Four years earlier, she won the gold medal in this event at the 2015 European Games held in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Zaretska represented Azerbaijan in karate at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. She won the silver medal in the women's +61kg event.

She competed in the women's kumite 68kg event at the 2022 European Karate Championships held in Gaziantep, Turkey. She also competed in the women's team kumite event. She won the gold medal in the women's 68kg event at the 2021 Islamic Solidarity Games held in Konya, Turkey.

Zaretska won the silver medal in the women's 68kg event at the 2023 European Karate Championships held in Guadalajara, Spain. A few months later, she won the gold medal in her event at the 2023 European Games held in Poland. She also won the gold medal in the women's 68kg event at the 2023 World Karate Championships held in Budapest, Hungary.

Zaretska won the silver medal in the women's 68kg event at the 2025 World Games held in Chengdu, China.

On 23 December 2025, at the event dedicated to the 2025 sports year review organized by the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Azerbaijan, Irina Zaretska was awarded the title of “Best Athlete In Non-Olympic Sports of 2025.”

In March 2026, at the Karate1 Premier League tournament in Italy, Zaretskaya defeated German athlete Hanna Riedel 2:0 and took third place.

Achievements