Greek wrestling star Maria Prevolaraki reached the top of European wrestling, winning her first-ever gold medal at the European Wrestling Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia on Friday.
Competing in her 14th continental championship, the 33-year-old Greek athlete offered a thrilling performance which led her to win the women’s freestyle 53kg title.
In a nail-biting final that was full of suspense, Prevolaraki, who is ranked third globally, faced Romania’s champion Andreea Beatrice Ana.
The Romanian is the world No. 1 and was defending her title as a European champion. Prevolaraki overcame an early deficit to secure a hard-fought 5-3 victory, finally claiming the gold that she was missing from her otherwise prestigious career. The emotional win saw the Greek champion step onto the top step of the podium, visibly moved during the Greek national anthem.
Who is Maria Prevolaraki, the European wrestling champion
This triumphant performance was the cherry at the top for Prevolaraki, arguably Greece’s most accomplished female wrestler. Since her first European final match in 2013, she has won a stunning total of four silver and four bronze medals at the championships. Yet, the gold medal remained just out of reach until this year’s event in Bratislava, Slovakia.
“I am very happy that I managed to earn the gold medal,” Prevolaraki stated following the match. “I was waiting so many years to be the European champion… I am 33 years old but I managed to do it.”
Her path to the final was dominant. She secured two preliminary wins before eliminating Viyaleta Rebikava Siryk of Belarus (World No. 10) 5-0 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, she put on an offensive, defeating Turkey’s Zeynep Yetgil, who is the global No. 2 with a stunning 12-4 score before the fall. Facing the formidable Ana of Romania in the final, Prevolaraki attributed her success to a changed mindset: “This time I am more experienced and I did not feel any pressure. I played freely and good things happen when you have no pressure.”
Prevolaraki’s gold was the second for Greece at the 2025 Championships, following Dauren Kurugliev‘s victory in the men’s freestyle 92kg category earlier in the week, where he defeated Azerbaijan’s Osman Nurmagomedov 5-4 in the final. Her victory is also a historic moment for Greek women’s wrestling, securing the nation’s first European gold in the discipline in 24 years. For the four-time Olympian with multiple World Championship medals, this European gold fills a significant gap in her remarkable wrestling career.
Prevolaraki had managed to win a total of nine medals, before Friday’s triumph. This complemented her four silver medals earned in Tbilisi (2013), Vantaa (2014), Warsaw (2021) and Budapest (2022), as well as four bronze medals secured in Novi Sad (2017), Kaspiysk (2018), Zagreb (2023) and Bucharest (2024).
