Hungary’s Viktor Lorincz is a Greco-Roman wrestler still at the top of his game nearly a decade after his first major medal. He is a former European champion, current world and European number two, and a European Games medal holder. His success at the 2019 World Championships has ensured that he will represent Hungary at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo. He did so at the 2016 Olympic in Rio de Janeiro, coming heartbreakingly close to a bronze medal, but just missing out.

Lorincz exploded onto the international wrestling scene in 2012 with a bronze medal at the European Championships. Two years later, he took bronze at the World Championships. A top-five finish at the 2015 World Championships was enough to start his 2016 Olympic journey. In Rio, he made it to the semi-finals, losing out to the eventual winner, Russia’s Davit Chakvetadze. He drew the third-place play-off but had to settle for join-fifth whilst his play-off opponent, Germany’s Denis Kudla, took joint bronze. In 2017, Lorincz responded in the best possible way: he won the European Championships ahead of Chakvedtze (who finished 11th).

2019 was a major year in Lorincz’s career. Having been absent from the World Championships medal podium since 2014, he had his best tournament to date, finishing runner-up. In a fitting twist, he beat his old nemesis Denis Kudla, who had to settle for bronze. Earlier that year, Lorincz had won bronze not once but twice at the European Games in Minsk, winning in both the 87kg and 97kg categories. He carried his amazing form into 2020, taking silver in the European Championships. With such form, he will be hoping to right the wrongs of Rio.