2026 World Wrestling Championship

2026 World Wrestling Championships is an international wrestling competition organized by United World Wrestling (UWW), featuring the disciplines of Greco-Roman, women’s freestyle, and men’s freestyle wrestling. The championships will be held from 24 October to 1 November 2026 at the Barys Arena in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. A total of 30 weight classes—10 in each discipline—will be contested, with 120 medals awarded. The event is expected to attract approximately 800 to 900 athletes and marks Kazakhstan’s first hosting of a World Wrestling Championships since 2019.

The hosting rights for the 2026 World Wrestling Championships were initially awarded to Manama, the capital of Bahrain. However, after evaluating international travel challenges and geopolitical factors, the UWW Executive Board and the Bahrain Wrestling Federation jointly decided to relocate the event. Following inspections and facility capacity assessments, Kazakhstan was confirmed as the new host nation. The Barys Arena, where the competitions will take place, previously hosted the 2019 World Wrestling Championships.

In addition, Kazakhstan has partnered with UWW to establish the International Wrestling Academy, which will include training facilities for Greco-Roman, freestyle, women’s wrestling and beach wrestling, as well as sports science and medical laboratories.

The nine-day championship will feature competitions in sequence: Greco-Roman, women’s freestyle, and men’s freestyle. Bracket draws for all weight classes will not be announced simultaneously but released progressively. The Greco-Roman draws are scheduled for Friday 23 October, the women’s freestyle draws for Monday 26 October, and the men’s freestyle draws for Wednesday 28 October.

• 24 October Saturday: Elimination matches for Greco-Roman 55 kg, 60 kg, 77 kg and 82 kg (starting at 10:30) and semifinals (starting at 19:00) will be held.
• 25 October Sunday: Repêchage matches for Greco-Roman 55 kg, 60 kg, 77 kg and 82 kg (10:30) and medal matches (18:00); elimination matches for 72 kg, 97 kg and 130 kg (10:30) and semifinals (16:45) will take place.
• 26 October Monday: Repêchage matches for Greco-Roman 72 kg, 97 kg and 130 kg (10:30) and medal matches (18:00); elimination matches for 63 kg, 67 kg and 87 kg (10:30) and semifinals (16:45) will be held.
• 27 October Tuesday: Repêchage matches for Greco-Roman 63 kg, 67 kg and 87 kg (10:30) and medal matches (18:00), concluding the Greco-Roman discipline. On the same day, women’s freestyle 50 kg, 57 kg, 65 kg and 76 kg elimination matches (10:30) and semifinals (16:30) will begin.
• 28 October Wednesday: Repêchage matches for women’s freestyle 50 kg, 57 kg, 65 kg and 76 kg (10:30) and medal matches (18:00); elimination matches for 53 kg, 62 kg, 68 kg and 72 kg (10:30) and semifinals (16:30) will be held.
• 29 October Thursday: Repêchage matches for women’s freestyle 53 kg, 62 kg, 68 kg and 72 kg (10:30) and medal matches (18:00); elimination matches and semifinals for women’s 55 kg and 59 kg and men’s freestyle 65 kg and 97 kg (10:30 and 16:30 respectively) will take place.
• 30 October Friday: Repêchage matches for women’s freestyle 55 kg and 59 kg and men’s freestyle 65 kg and 97 kg (10:30) and medal matches (18:00); elimination matches and semifinals for men’s freestyle 61 kg, 70 kg, 86 kg and 125 kg (10:30 and 16:30 respectively) will be held.
• 31 October Saturday: Repêchage matches for men’s freestyle 61 kg, 70 kg, 86 kg and 125 kg (10:30) and medal matches (18:00); elimination matches and semifinals for 57 kg, 74 kg, 79 kg and 92 kg (10:30 and 16:30 respectively) will be held.
• 1 November Sunday: Repêchage matches for men’s freestyle 57 kg, 74 kg, 79 kg and 92 kg (16:30) and medal matches (18:00), concluding the championships.

Turkish wrestler Rıza Kayaalp will compete in the Greco-Roman 130 kg weight class, with his matches scheduled for 25–26 October. He has won a total of 10 medals at World Championships: five gold (2011 Istanbul, 2015 Las Vegas, 2017 Paris, 2019 Astana, 2022 Belgrade), three silver (2013 Budapest, 2014 Tashkent, 2023 Belgrade), and two bronze (2009 Herning, 2010 Moscow). If he登上 the podium in Astana, his total medal count will rise to 11. Winning one additional gold medal would give him his sixth world title, extending his own record as the Turkish wrestler with the most world championships. Kayaalp won his fourth world title in 2019 in Astana by defeating Cuban Oscar Pino in the final.

In April 2026 at the European Championships in Tirana (Albania), Kayaalp defeated Hungarian Darius Attila Vitek 7–1 in the final to claim his 13th European title, surpassing the previous record he shared with Aleksandr Karelin. On the international stage, he has accumulated 13 gold and 2 silver medals at European Championships, 5 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze at World Championships, and 1 silver (Rio 2016) and 2 bronze (London 2012, Tokyo 2020) at the Olympic Games, for a total of 28 medals. The athlete plans to win his first Olympic gold medal at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics and then retire from active competition.

Four Olympic champions will compete in the men’s freestyle 97 kg weight class: Kyle Snyder (United States), Abdulrashid Sadulaev (Russia), Akhmed Tazhudinov (Bahrain), and Hassan Yazdani (Iran). Among these athletes, Snyder, Sadulaev and Tazhudinov have shared all world championship titles over the past 11 years.

The athlete with the most world championship titles in history is Saori Yoshida (Japan) with 13 gold medals. In men’s freestyle, Valentin Yordanov (Bulgaria) holds the record with 10 titles, while in Greco-Roman, Aleksandr Karelin (Russia) holds the record with 9 titles.

^{Türkiye Milli Takım kadrosu (AA)}

Türkiye will field athletes in all 30 weight classes. The team is undergoing a generational transition following the retirement of Olympic champions Taha Akgül and Yasemin Adar Yiğit. The average age of the men’s freestyle team is 24. The roster includes past world champions Rıza Kayaalp, Ali Cengiz and Buse Tosun Çavuşoğlu (2023 champion). Following Taha Akgül’s retirement, Hakan Büyükçıngıl, bronze medalist at the 2026 European Championships, will compete in the men’s freestyle 125 kg category.

Türkiye’s full roster is as follows:

• Greco-Roman: Ömer Halis Recep (55 kg), Enes Başar (60 kg), Kerem Kamal (63 kg), Murat Fırat (67 kg), Cengiz Arslan (72 kg), Ahmet Yılmaz (77 kg), Yüksel Sarıçiçek (82 kg), Ali Cengiz (87 kg), İbrahim Tığcı (97 kg), Rıza Kayaalp (130 kg).
• Women’s Freestyle: Evin Demirhan Yavuz (50 kg), Zeynep Yetgil Kamal (53 kg), Tuba Demir (55 kg), Elvira Süleyman Kamaloğlu (57 kg), Bediha Gün (59 kg), Sevim Akbaş (62 kg), Ayşe Erkan (65 kg), Nesrin Baş (68 kg), Buse Tosun Çavuşoğlu (72 kg), Kadriye Aksoy Koçak (76 kg).
• Men’s Freestyle: Muhammet Karavuş (57 kg), Emrah Ormanoğlu (61 kg), Ahmet Duman (65 kg), Ferhat Kılıç (70 kg), Cüneyt Budak (74 kg), Okan Tahtacı (79 kg), İsmail Küçüksolak (86 kg), Fatih Altunbaş (92 kg), Alperen Tokgöz (97 kg), Hakan Büyükçıngıl (125 kg).

^{Türkiye Milli Takım kadrosu (AA)}

Reviewing past performances, Türkiye won 11 medals at the 2026 European Championships: two gold, three silver and six bronze, finishing second in the team rankings for Greco-Roman and women’s wrestling. At the 2025 World Championships in Croatia, Türkiye earned three medals (Nesrin Baş silver; Evin Demirhan Yavuz and Ahmet Yılmaz bronze). In 2023, Türkiye won seven medals, and in 2022, it secured eight medals including the Greco-Roman team championship.

Points earned at the 2026 World Championships will determine rankings for the 2027 Ranking Series, continental championships and World Championship seeding. This makes the event a critical component of the first phase of the Los Angeles 2028 (LA28) Olympic qualification cycle.