Yianni Diakomihalis opens up on how coaching young wrestlers inproves his performance following US Open title victory

American wrestler Yianni Diakomihalis recently registered a strong comeback by winning the US Open title. The 26-year-old wrestler from Rochester, New York, opened up on how coaching young wrestlers helped him improve his performance.

After winning the US Open title, Diakomihalis shared his thoughts with the media. He said that he hasn't thanked his students enough, but he actually owes his success to him. In his words,

"First of all I wanna say thank you to , I’ve been coaching the gap years for the last two years, the smart RTC. I’ve found inspiration from those young guys you know. A lot of them grew up watching me, you know maybe they’d talk to me at one point, and it’s truly inspiring to have young guys like that. One would follow into my footsteps, right? That means I gotta take big steps. I don’t say thank you enough to them, but I help them, and they help me way more."

Yianni Diakomihalis has several titles to his credit, including two consecutive gold medals at the Cadet World Championships in 2015 and 2016. The young wrestler also won a silver medal at the 2022 World Championships held in Belgrade. Diakomihalis currently represents the Cornell Big Red team at the NCAA Championships, and he last won a gold medal in the 149 lbs category in 2023.

---

Yianni Diakomihalis reflects on his training with Daichi Takatani

Yianni Diakomihalis's impressive work at the US Open shows the effort he put into his body after recovering from the left elbow surgery. Notably, the 26-year-old wrestler trained with Japanese wrestler Daichi Takatani.

In an Instagram post uploaded on March 26, Diakomihalis talked about his experience of training with Takatani. He wrote on his Instagram profile,

"It has been an honor to learn from and train with @takatani.daichi"

The American wrestler further added,

"Right now I’m feeling very grateful for the people who have led me down this path. I’ve been blessed with the kind of opportunities that people dream of, and I plan on making the most of it. Proverbs 14:23"

Yianni Diakomihalis' sparring partner Daichi Takatani is no ordinary wrestler. The Japanese wrestler had lost to India's Bajrang Punia in the men's 65 kg. freestyle wrestling event at the Jakarta Palembang Asian Games held in 2018.

However, the wrestler recovered soon enough to show his prowess at the 2023 World Championships, where he won the bronze medal. Takatani made it to the finals of men's 74 kg. freestyle wrestling at the Paris Olympics, where he lost the gold medal by a whisker, and settled for the silver medal.