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Türkiye will compete in all 30 weight classes at the 2026 World Wrestling Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, from Oct. 24 to Nov. 1, with five-time world champion Riza Kayaalp aiming to extend his national record and a new generation of wrestlers looking to make their mark on the international stage.
Around 800 athletes are expected to compete at Barys Arena, with medals awarded across Greco-Roman wrestling, women's freestyle and men's freestyle. Each discipline features 10 weight classes, bringing the total number of medals available to 120.
The tournament will also offer Türkiye an opportunity to assess its developing national squad following the retirements of several prominent wrestlers, including Olympic champions Taha Akgul and Yasemin Adar Yigit.
Kayaalp, who holds the record for the most world championship titles won by a Turkish wrestler, will return to the competition for the first time since 2023.
Competing in the Greco-Roman 130-kg division, he will seek his sixth world title after previously winning gold in Istanbul in 2011, Las Vegas in 2015, Paris in 2017, Astana in 2019 and Belgrade in 2022.
The veteran wrestler also secured his 13th European title in Tirana, Albania, in April, surpassing Russian wrestling legend Aleksandr Karelin's European championship record.
Kayaalp is one of three former world champions in Türkiye's squad, alongside Ali Cengiz, who returns after recovering from a prolonged injury, and Olympic medalist Buse Tosun Cavusoglu, who won world gold in 2023.
Türkiye's men's freestyle squad has undergone particularly significant changes, with five wrestlers replaced since the European Championships. The team, which has an average age of 24, will also feature Hakan Buyukcingil in the 125-kg category previously dominated by Akgul.
Buyukcingil secured Türkiye's only men's freestyle medal at this year's European Championships, taking bronze.
One of the most closely watched contests in Astana will take place in the men's freestyle 97-kg category, where four Olympic champions are expected to compete.
American Kyle Snyder, Russia's Abdulrashid Sadulaev, Bahrain's Akhmed Tazhudinov and Iran's Hassan Yazdani will all enter the division, with Türkiye represented by Alperen Tokgoz.
Snyder, Sadulaev and Tazhudinov have collectively claimed every world championship title in the weight class over the past 11 years, making the competition one of the tournament's major attractions.
The championships will begin with Greco-Roman wrestling on Oct. 24, when Türkiye's Omer Halis Recep, Enes Basar, Ahmet Yilmaz and Yuksel Saricicek will compete in the opening qualification and elimination rounds.
Türkiye enters the tournament after collecting 11 medals at the 2026 European Wrestling Championships, including two golds, three silvers and six bronzes. The national team finished second in the team standings in both Greco-Roman and women's wrestling.
At the 2025 World Championships in Croatia, Turkish wrestlers secured three medals, with Nesrin Bas taking silver in women's wrestling, while Evin Demirhan Yavuz and Ahmet Yilmaz earned bronze.
Türkiye previously collected seven medals at the 2023 World Championships and eight in 2022, when its Greco-Roman squad also won the team title.
Across wrestling history, Japan's Saori Yoshida remains the most decorated world champion with 13 titles, while Valentin Yordanov of Bulgaria leads men's freestyle wrestling with 10 and Aleksandr Karelin holds the Greco-Roman record with nine.
The Astana tournament will give Türkiye's established champions and emerging wrestlers an opportunity to compete against the world's leading athletes as the national team continues its transition toward the next Olympic cycle.
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