After shocker loss to high schooler PJ Duke, Yianni Diakomihalis shares raw reaction

Yiannni Diakomihalis opened up after his unexpected loss in the Final X tournament. The 26-year-old wrestler was defeated by high school wrestler PJ Duke in the men's 70kg. freestyle wrestling class at the Final X tournament.

The former World silver medalist took to his X account [formerly Twitter] to express his reaction after the loss. He thanked his followers for the support, and also congratulated Duke for the victory.

Diakomihalis posted on his X account,

"A lot of people have put their whole heart and soul into me, I just want to say thank you to them I’ve got a lot of feelings right now but it’s important to remember that there’s a plan for me and I just need to continue doing my best Congrats to PJ, he wrestled hard today"

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Interesrtingly, the 26-year-old wrestler had acknowledged Duke's potential in a pre match interview with FloWrestling. In his words,

"There's a trap with wrestling high school kids where it's like, oh, well, he's a high school kid. It's like, but he's really the number two guy in America."

After defeating Yianni Diakomihalis, PJ Duke will now represent the USA at the upcoming World Wrestling Championships, which will be held at Zagreb in Croatia this year.

Yianni Diakomihalis opens up about how coaching young wrestlers improves his performance

Yianni Diakomihalis talks about coaching young wrestlers (Image Source: Getty)

Yianni Diakomihalis had previously shared his thoughts on coaching young wrestlers, and how it improved his own performance. In a conversation with the media after winning the US Open title, the 26-year-old wrestler mentioned,

"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' victory was phenomenal, because he had returned to the mat after a left elbow surgery. The former World silver medalist had previously trained with Olympic silver medalist Daichi Takatani as well. Takatani had won the silver medal in the men's 74kg category at the Paris Olympics last year.

About the author

Animesh Pandey is a seasoned content writer at Sportskeeda with over eight years of experience, having previously worked as an intern for Follow Your Sport before joining SK as a columnist in 2017. A graduate with a Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing, he also worked at TFI Media Private Limited and contributed as an intern for the movie website Nettv4u.

He has extensively covered events from World Championships to the Olympics, providing insights and analyses that resonate with his audience. His belief in mastering the basics and delivering accurate, relevant, and ethical information through thorough research is reflected in his work.

He was notably invited to the National Sports and Adventure Awards 2018 at Rashtrapati Bhavan after winning a MyGov quiz on Indian Sports, where he engaged with celebrated athletes such as Rahi Sarnobat, Hima Das, Jinson Johnson, Saikhom Mirabai Chanu, and Subedar Neeraj Chopra, who also happens to be his favorite Olympian.

Despite being a field hockey enthusiast, Animesh's most cherished Olympic moments include Wayde Van Niekerk's unexpected world record in the 400 meters at Rio and Chopra's historic gold medal in Tokyo.

When not immersed in writing or watching the Olympics, Animesh indulges in his love for movies, embracing quality cinema regardless of the language.

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Edited by Pratham K Sharma