Yianni Diakomihalis

John Michael "Yianni" Diakomihalis (born April 11, 1999) is an American former freestyle and folkstyle wrestler who competed at 70 kilograms. In eight grade, he won the Division I state championship at 99 pounds, defeating eventual Cornell teammate Vito Arujau in the finals.

Diakomihalis would go on to become a four-time state champion, as he was unable to compete for a fifth one due to an injury. In freestyle, he claimed titles from the U17 World Championships in the 2015 and 2016 editions. He would graduate in 2017 posting a 243–3 record, on a win streak of 210 victories, and would then go on to wrestle at Cornell University as he had committed to do 2014.

Cornell University 2017–2018 As a freshman, Diakomihalis won the Bearcat Open, New York State Intercollegiate, and the Cliff Keen Invitational and compiled a record of 28–1 during the regular season. He then won the EIWA conference title and would go on to claim his first NCAA championship, joining Kyle Dake as the only Big Reds to do so in their "true freshman" year of competition and earning notable upsets over top-seeded Bryce Meredith, second-seeded Jaydin Eierman, and two-time NCAA champion Dean Heil. Diakomihalis suffered a torn ACL during his quarterfinal matchup against Heil.

2018–2019 As a sophomore, Diakomihalis won the Mat Town Open I and the South Beach Individual and capped a perfect 13–0 record in dual matches, ending the regular season unbeaten. He went on to win his second EIWA conference title and earned the Outstanding Wrestler award in the process.

At the NCAA championships, he defeated the likes of Jaydin Eierman, Joseph McKenna and Dominick Demas his second national title. Diakomihalis was named the EIWA Top Wrestler and was a finalist for the Dan Hodge Trophy.

2019–2020 Diakomihalis did not compete at the NCAA level in 2019–2020, as he took an Olympic redshirt year and focused on freestyle.

2020–2021 Yianni planned to return to college wrestling in 2020–2021; however, the Ivy League announced the cancellation of all winter sports on November 13, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

2021–2022 After 975 days, Diakomihalis finally returned to the mat for the Big Red on November 20, 2021, defeating Stanford's Jaden Abas at 149 pounds. He finished 28-0 and won his third NCAA title (his first at 149 pounds).

2022–2023 Diakomihalis finished his college career with his fourth title at the NCAA tournament in Tulsa (his second title at 149 pounds) with a 4-2 victory over Sammy Sasso of Ohio State University. Diakomihalis became the fifth wrestler in NCAA history, and the second from Cornell University, to win four NCAA titles. While at Cornell he was a member of Quill and Dagger.

Freestyle career

Age-group level Diakomihalis was an accomplished cadet freestyle wrestler, he was a two-time world champion and two-time UWW National champion. As a junior, he placed third at the 2016 UWW Nationals.

Senior level

2019 After opting for the Olympic redshirt, Diakomihalis attended his first senior-level tournament at the US Open in April. He went 6–0 (three technical falls) with notable wins over Frank Molinaro, Jordan Oliver, and Zain Retherford in the finals. Not long after, he competed in an exhibition match at the Beat the Streets charity event against multiple World medalist Bajrang Punia. He won the match on points (10–8).

After winning the US Open championship, Diakomihalis sat out of the World Team Trials Challenge, having earned himself an automatic spot at Final X: Rutgers with the US Open victory; US Open finalist Retherford won the World Team Trials Challenge to earn the other spot at Final X in June. In the first match of the best-of three series, Diakomihalis fell 10-4. The second match ended controversially. Retherford was down 4–6 late in the match when he got a takedown for two points, while Diakomihalis was awarded two points for a back exposure to apparently win the match 8-6, as time expired while the wrestlers were still grappling. Retherford's corner challenged the points awarded to Diakomihalis and won the challenge, resulting in a final score of 6–6 with criteria advantage to Retherford, giving him a 2-0 lead in the series and an apparent victory at Final X. However, subsequent to the tournament, Diakomihalis initiated an arbitration challenging the scoring change. Diakomihalis ultimately prevailed in the arbitration with a finding that the scoring review was conducted improperly. The arbitrator awarded Diakomihalis a rematch of the second match in the series.

In July, Diakomihalis competed at the prestigious Yasar Dogu Grand Prix in Istanbul, Turkey. He defeated four opponents such as his Final X opponent Zain Retherford, Ali Rahimzade and Ismail Musukaev to claim the championship.

Two weeks later he went on to compete in the Waclaw Ziolkowski Memorial at Warsaw, Poland. He defeated four opponents (two technical falls) including Ismail Musukaev (by forfeit) to claim the championship.

In September, the rematch between Retherford and Diakomihalis took place in a special event called Final X: Yianni vs. Zain in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Diakomihalis lost the bout on points, 2-1, losing his chance to represent the United States at the World Championships.

In December, he competed at the US Nationals. He defeated three opponents before getting upset by Joseph McKenna in the semifinals. He advanced to the finals of the consolation brackets but forfeited his final match.

2020 In his first tournament of the year, Diakomihalis competed at the Pan American Championships. He defeated four opponents including Agustín Destribats and NCAA Division II champion Jose Rodriguez to claim the championship.

Diakomihalis was scheduled to compete at the US Olympic Team Trials on April 4–5 at State College, Pennsylvania.

After more than half a year without stepping on the mats, Diakomihalis wrestled at the annual Beat The Streets event against the heavily accomplished Vladimer Khinchegashvili on September 17. He lost the competitive and close match by criteria.

Diakomihalis represented the Spartan Combat Wrestling Club at 65 kilograms in the FloWrestling: RTC Cup on December 4–5. He tech'd 2020 Big Ten Championship runner-up Sammy Sasso (Ohio State) in the first round, followed up with two criteria victories over 2017 World Championship runner-up James Green (New Jersey) and got a final TF over 2018 NCAA All-American Tariq Wilson to help the team reach the third-place.

2021 To start off the year, Diakomihalis wrestled two-time and reigning Pan American champion (70 kg) Anthony Ashnault on January 8, at the SCRTC I. After scoring two two-point takedowns and a step-out, he scored a five-point slam, driving Ashnault to a technical fall. Diakomihalis then competed at the Henri Deglane Grand Prix of France on January 16. After advancing to the semifinals with two wins, Diakomihalis faced World and Olympic champion Vladimer Khinchegashvili in a rematch from their BTS match, and was able to avenge his lone 2020 loss when he dominantly tech'd the Georgian, advancing to the finals, where he flawlessly defeated James Green, in a rubber match from their series at the RTC Cup, to claim gold.

Diakomihalis then competed at the America's Cup on February, defeating DI All-Americans Mitch McKee (twice) and Pat Lugo to help the Team Kenny Monday reach sixth place. On March, he defeated Matt Kolodzik in a dual match against the NJRTC.

In April 2–3, he competed at the rescheduled US Olympic Team Trials as the second seed, in an attempt to represent the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics. He came back to wrestle for third–place after defeating Mitch McKee, but was once again defeated, now by 2021 NCAA champion Nick Lee, placing fourth.

After his loss at the Olympic Trials, Diakomihalis came back at the prestigious Poland Open, where he was the defending champion, on June 9. In the second round, he was knocked off by Iszmail Muszukajev in a frenetic rematch from their also frenetic match in 2019. Next, he most notably dominated recently crowned Pan American Continental champion Joseph McKenna to a technical fall and defeated the same opponent he defeated in his first match, 2018 University World Champion Eduard Grigorew, winning the championship without getting the rubber match with Musukaev as Musukaev forfeited out of the tournament after their earlier match.

Diakomihalis then competed at the 2021 US World Team Trials from September 11 to 12, intending to represent the country at the World Championships. After dropping All-American Luke Pletcher to make the finale, Diakomihalis faced Joseph McKenna in a best-of-three match. After losing a razor-close first bout, he won the next two, including a dominant technical fall in order to become the 2021 US World Team member.

Diakomihalis represented the United States at the 2021 World Championships on October 3 in Oslo, Norway. After a dominant first round win over Italy, he was eliminated by 2020 Individual World Cup winner Vazgen Tevanyan on points.

2022 In May, at the 2022 World Team Trials Challenge tournament, Diakomihalis defeated Luke Pletcher and Ian Parker, both by 10-0 technical superiority, to advance to Final X against Evan Henderson.

At Final X in June at Madison Square Garden, Diakomihalis defeated Henderson 11-9 and 14-4 to win the best-of-three series and earn his second straight spot on Team USA for the World Championships.

At the 2022 World Championships in Belgrade, Diakomihalis made history as the first 65 kg American wrestler to earn a medal at the World Wrestling Championships since Bill Zadick in 2006. He advanced to the finals with three straight wins. He began with a 4-0 win over Vazgen Tevanyan of Armenia, avenging his loss at the 2021 World Championships. He followed that with a 10-0 win by technical superiority over Vladimir Dubov of Bulgaria. In the semifinals, he defeated Bajrang Punia of India by technical superiority, 10-0 to advance to the finals. His semifinal victory guaranteed him a silver medal and clinched the team title for the United States. In the finals, Diakomihalis was defeated by Rahman Amouzad of Iran by a score of 13-8, thereby claiming the silver medal.

2023 In May 2023, Diakomihalis represented Team USA at the Pan American Championships, going 4-0 and earning the gold medal.

His silver medal at 2022 Worlds entitled Diakomihalis to skip the preliminary qualifying rounds for Team USA and advance directly to Final X. At Final X, he lost consecutive matches to Nick Lee, 7-6 and 8-8 (criteria).

2025 Diakomihalis moved up to 70 kg for the 2025 US Open. With an 8-2 win over James Green in the final, Diakomihalis won his first US Open title since 2019. With the win, he advances to Final X on June 14, 2025 at the Prudential Center in Newark. At Final X, Diakomihalis faced PJ Duke, the winner of the U.S. World Team Trials in Louisville on May 16–17, 2025 for the right to represent Team USA at the World Championships in Zagreb on September 13–21, 2025. Diakomihalis won the first match by 10-0 TF, but Duke won the next two, 17-10 and then by fall.

At RAF 01 on August 30, 2025, Diakomihalis defeated Bajrang Punia by a score of 5-1 to become the inaugural RAF Lightweight Champion.

Freestyle record

Res. Record Opponent Score Date Event Location

Win 70-18

Cleveland, Ohio

Loss 69–18

Newark, New Jersey Loss 69–17

Win 69–16

Win 68–16

Las Vegas, Nevada Win 67–16

Win 66–16

Win 65–16

Win 64–16

Loss 63–16

Win 64–15

NC

Denver, Colorado Loss 63–15

Win 63–14

Loss 62–14

Win 62–13

Win 61–13

Win 60–13

Loss 59–13

Loss 59–12

Win 59–11

Win 58–11

Win 57–11

Win 56–11

Loss 55–11

Win 55–10

Win 54–10

Win 53–10

Win 52–10

Win 51–10

Loss 50–10

Win 50–9

Win 49–9

Win 48–9

Win 47–9

Coralville, Iowa Win 46–9

Loss 45–9

Win 45–8

Win 44–8

Win 43–8

Loss 42–8

Win 42–7

Win 41–7

Warsaw, Poland Win 40–7

Win 39–7

Win 38–7

Loss 37–7

Win 37–6

Loss 36–6

Win 36–5

Loss 35–5

Win 35–4

Win 34–4

Allentown, Pennsylvania

Win 33–4

Concord, North Carolina Win 32–4

Win 31–4

Win 30–4

Nice, France Win 29–4

Win 28–4

Win 27–4

Win 26–4

Austin, Texas

Win 25–4

Win 24–4

Win 23–4

Win 22–4

Loss 21–4

New York City

Win 21–3

Ottawa, Canada Win 20–3

Win 19–3

Win

Win 18–3

Las Vegas, Nevada Loss 17–3

Win 17–2

Win 16–2

Win 15–2

Loss 14–2

Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

Win 14–1

Warsaw, Poland Win 13–1

Win 12–1

Win 11–1

Istanbul, Turkey Win 10–1

Win 9–1

Win 8–1

NC

New Brunswick, New Jersey Loss 7–1

Win 7–0

New York City, New York

Win 6–0

Las Vegas, Nevada Win 5–0

Win 4–0

Win 3–0

Win 2–0

Win 1–0

NCAA record

Res. Record Opponent Score Date Event

Win 66–1

Win 65–1

Win 64–1

Win 63–1

Win 62–1

Win 61–1

Win 60–1

Win 59–1

Win 58–1

Win 57–1

Win 56–1

Win 55–1

Win 54–1

Win 53–1

Win 52–1

Win 51–1

Win 50–1

Win 49–1

Win 48–1

Win 47–1

Win 46–1

Win 45–1

Win 44–1

Win 43–1

Win 42–1

Win 41–1

Win 40-1

Win 39-1

Win 38-1

Win 37–1

Win 36–1

Win 35–1

Win 34–1

Win 33–1

Win 32–1

Win 31–1

Win 30–1

Win 29–1

Win 28–1

Win 27–1

Win 26–1

Win 25–1

Win 24–1

Win 23–1

Win 22–1

Win 21–1

Win 20–1

Loss 19–1

Win 19–0

Win 18–0

Win 17–0

Win 16–0

Win 15–0

Win 14–0

Win 13–0

Win 12–0

Win 11–0

Win 10–0

Win 9–0

Win 8–0

Win 7–0

Win 6–0

Win 5–0

Win 4–0

Win 3–0

Win 2–0

Win 1–0

Stats Season Year School Rank Weight Class Record Win Bonus 2023 Senior Cornell University 1 (1st)

22-1 95.65% 63.63 2022 Junior Cornell University 1 (1st) 28-0 100.00% 64.28% 2019 Sophomore Cornell University 1 (1st)

29–0 100.00% 58.62% 2018 Freshman Cornell University 1 (1st) 37–1 97.37% 68.42%

Coaching career

Diakomihalis was hired as assistant coach for the Cornell Big Red on April 20, 2026.