Alyona Kolesnik
Alyona Kolesnik is a Ukrainian-Azerbaijani freestyle wrestler. She is a four-time medalist, including gold, at the European Wrestling Championships. She is also a two-time silver medalist at the Islamic Solidarity Games. She won bronze in her event at the 2019 European Games.
Career
At the 2017 European Wrestling Championships held in Novi Sad, Serbia, Kolesnik won one of the bronze medals in the women's 55kg event. In 2018, she also won one of the bronze medals in the women's 57kg and she repeated this in 2019 with another bronze medal in the same event.At the 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games held in Baku, Azerbaijan, Kolesnik won the silver medal in the women's 58kg event. In the final, she lost against Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan.
Kolesnik won one of the bronze medals in the women's 57kg event at the 2019 European Games held in Minsk, Belarus. In her bronze medal match she defeated Bediha Gün of Turkey. In 2020, at the European Wrestling Championships held in Rome, Italy, she competed in the women's 57kg event. She lost her bronze medal match against Iryna Kurachkina of Belarus. In 2020, Kolesnik competed in the women's 57kg event at the Individual Wrestling World Cup held in Belgrade, Serbia where she lost her bronze medal match against Veronika Chumikova of Russia.
In March 2021, Kolesnik competed at the European Qualification Tournament in Budapest, Hungary hoping to qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. She lost her first match against Evelina Nikolova of Bulgaria and she was then eliminated in her next match in the repechage. She also failed to qualify for the Olympics at the World Olympic Qualification Tournament held in Sofia, Bulgaria.
In October 2021, Kolesnik was eliminated in her first match in the women's 59kg event at the World Wrestling Championships held in Oslo, Norway. In January 2022, she won the gold medal in the women's 59 kg event at the Golden Grand Prix Ivan Yarygin held in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. In February 2022, Kolesnik won one of the bronze medals in the women's 59 kg event at the Yasar Dogu Tournament held in Istanbul, Turkey. She lost her bronze medal match in the 59kg event at the 2022 European Wrestling Championships held in Budapest, Hungary.
Kolesnik won the silver medal in the 59 kg event at the 2021 Islamic Solidarity Games held in Konya, Turkey. She competed in the 59kg event at the 2022 World Wrestling Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia.
Kolesnik won the bronze medal in the women's 59kg event at the 2023 Grand Prix Zagreb Open held in Zagreb, Croatia. She won the gold medal in the women's 59kg event at the 2024 European Wrestling Championships held in Bucharest, Romania. In the final, she defeated Alina Filipovych of Ukraine.
Achievements
| Year | Tournament | Location | Result | Event |
| 2017 | European Championships | Novi Sad, Serbia | 3rd | Freestyle 55kg |
| 2017 | Islamic Solidarity Games | Baku, Azerbaijan | 2nd | Freestyle 58kg |
| 2018 | European Championships | Kaspiysk, Russia | 3rd | Freestyle 57kg |
| 2019 | European Championships | Bucharest, Romania | 3rd | Freestyle 57kg |
| 2019 | European Games | Minsk, Belarus | 3rd | Freestyle 57kg |
| 2022 | Islamic Solidarity Games | Konya, Turkey | 2nd | Freestyle 59kg |
| 2024 | European Championships | Bucharest, Romania | 1st | Freestyle 59kg |