Though still a mere 20 years of age, Yianni Diakomihalis has already amassed an impressive resume. Yianni won his first UWW Cadet World Championship gold medal just a couple months after his 16th birthday and he has been claiming big-time victories ever since.

Despite not yet being able to legally purchase alcoholic beverages, Yianni's career is worthy of a deep dive highlighting his greatest hits, which we will do right now.

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2015 

Cadet World Gold: 58 Kilograms

Yianni established his bona fides early, winning the 17-and-under world championship at the age of 15. Yianni beat Jintaro Motoyama of Japan in the finals. Motoyama would go on to win cadet bronze in 2016 (after losing to Yianni in the semifinals), a U23 bronze in 2018, and a junior silver in 2019. Motoyama is in the mix to represent Japan, the host country of the 2020 Olympics at 74kg. He recently placed second at the 2019 Meiji Cup, Japan's equivalent to the US Open.

Watch Yianni win gold in the video below:

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2016 

Cadet World Gold: 63 Kilograms

As mentioned, Yianni once again beat Motoyama in the semis and then Stefan Tonu of Moldova in the finals. Tonu is still banging on the international circuit. He recently placed second at the 2019 Ian Corneanu at 70kg.

Yianni's cadet worlds bracket also featured Muslim Saidulaev, a highly regarded Russian prospect by way of Dagestan who recently scored a silver at the 2019 European Junior Championships and won the 2018 Alans, one of the toughest tourneys on the Russian calendar.

2017

After the summer of 2016, injuries began taking their toll, ultimately keeping Yianni from competing in his senior year at Hilton High School, near Rochester, NY. Yianni already had four state titles, but it was a bittersweet ending to his high school career.

By the summer of 2017, Yianni was healed up, or at least healed up enough to enter the Junior US Open. Yianni placed third, falling to Ryan Deakin, who somehow made 66kg, in the semifinals. Yianni did pick up nice wins over future All-American Dom Demas in the quarters and in the third-place bout. 

Yianni didn't enter the Junior World Team Trials later that summer, but was ready to start contributing as a member of the Cornell Big Red that fall. 

2018

NCAA Champion: 141 pounds

As a true freshman Yianni did the dang thing, beating a monstrous bracket in Cleveland after going 32-1 in the regular season. Yianni's only loss was to three-time All-American Jaydin Eierman. 

Here's a list of the All-Americans Yianni defeated in the 2017-18 NCAA season. 

Nick Lee, Penn State - Kaloust Bearcat Open

Sa'Derian Perry, Eastern Michigan - Cliff Keen Las Vegas

Bryce Meredith, Wyoming - Cliff Keen Las Vegas

Tommy Thorn, Minnesota - Dual meet

Kyle Shoop, Lock Haven - Dual meet

Dean Heil, Oklahoma State - NCAA quarterfinals

Jaydin Eierman, Missouri - NCAA semifinals

Bryce Meredith, Wyoming - NCAA finals

Watch Yianni in the finals with Bryce 'Money' Meredith:

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2019

NCAA Champion: 141 pounds

US Open Champion: 65 kilograms

Yaşar Doğu Champion: 65 kilograms

Ziolkowski Open Champion: 65 kilograms

Yianni's second NCAA season was more of the same, only more so. Yianni won a second EIWA and NCAA crown with nary a blemish to the record. Below is the list of All-Americans Yianni beat in his undefeated sophomore season at Cornell.

Jaydin Eierman, Missouri - Dual meet

Kyle Shoop, Lock Haven - Dual meet

Joey McKenna, Ohio State - Dual meet

Chad Red, Nebraska - NCAA round of 16

Dom Demas, Oklahoma - NCAA quarterfinal

Jaydin Eierman, Missouri - NCAA semifinal

Joey McKenna, Ohio State - NCAA finals

Watch Yianni become a two-timer over Joey McKenna:

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Then the real fun begins. With folkstyle season in the rearview, Yianni hit the freestyle scene with a full head of steam. First was the 2019 US Open in April, which Yianni won, in his first senior-level tournament. His run from the round of 16 on was the stuff of legends.

Nick Dardanes, Minnesota - Round of 16

Frank Molinaro, Penn State - Quarterfinal

Jordan Oliver, Oklahoma State - Semifinal

Zain Retherford, Penn State - Final

Those four wrestlers represent 16 NCAA tournament appearances, 13 All-American honors, and six NCAA titles. 

Yianni then participated in Beat the Streets NYC in May, beating Indian superstar Bajrang Punia. Bajrang has been competing at a high level since 2010, when he won a cadet world championship gold medal. Since 2017 he's won two Asian bronze and one Asian gold medal, a U23 silver, and a UWW senior world bronze and silver. 

Watch Yianni take out Bajrang in a wild bout in Madison Square Garden:

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Next up for Yianni was Final X and a chance to make his first world team. But it was Zain who got revenge winning two straight matches. However, Yianni and his team appealed the result of the second match, which ended on a controversial challenge after time had expired that changed the outcome from a Yianni win to a Yianni loss. Without getting too deep in the weeds, the end result was that the second match would be re-wrestled almost three months late, on August 2.

And if you are interested in learning more about that saga, click here. 

But before the rematch would happen, Yianni would participate in two international events. First, the prestigious Yaşar Doğu in Istanbul. Ironically, Yianni would draw his rival and compatriot, Zain Retherford, in the first round. 

Yianni would win, putting him in a very exclusive club of people with multiple victories over Zain. 

Next was Ali Rahimzadeh of Azerbaijan, a 2017 Euro Junior Gold and 2018 U23 World silver. Another win meant a match with Iszmail Muszukajev (formerly Ismail Musukaev), a Hungarian by way of Kabardino-Balkaria in the semis. The match was quite an ordeal, with Muszukajev eventually being disqualified on cautions for failing to return to the center of the mat. Basically Muszukajev gassed and then stalled out.

You should really watch the whole match, which can be seen in the video below.

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Yianni would then receive a forfeit from Haji Ali of Bahrain (by way of Dagestan). Muszukajev would later earn a bronze medal at the 2019 World Championships in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, and qualify for the Tokyo Games in the process.

The next tournament for Yianni, and his last competition before Senior Nationals, was the Ziolkowski Open in Poland. 

Yianni dispatched in order: Shaohua Yuan of China, a 2019 Asian bronze medalist; Sayatpek Okassov of Kazakhstan, a two-time Asian medalist; Iszmail Muszukajev by way of a cowardly forfeit; and Gor Oganesyan of Ukraine, a 2019 European bronze medalist. The end result was yet another gold medal for Yianni.

After Poland it was finally time to complete the endless summer of Final X. Zain would prevail, and Yianni would watch the world championships from home. 

We will see how much motivation that loss provided Yianni in Fort Worth. To the surprise of no one, Diakomihalis has been taking an Olympic redshirt so he has not competed for Cornell this fall. The anticipation of his return to freestyle competition is palpable.

Before that happens, let's review that hit list, just so we can see it all in one convenient place. 

• Tommy Thorn
• Sa'Derian Perry
• Kyle Shoop
• Chad Red
• Dom Demas
• Nick lee
• Jaydin Eierman
• Bryce Meredith
• Joey McKenna
• Nick Dardanes
• Dean Heil
• Frank Molinaro
• Jordan Oliver
• Zain Retherford
• Shaohua Yuan, CHN
• Stefan Tonu, ROU
• Sayatpek Okassov, KAZ
• Ali Rahimzadeh, AZE
• Gor Oganesyan, UKR
• Jintaro Motoyama, JPN
• Iszmail Muszukajev, HUN