Nazar Kulchytskyy (; born June 3, 1992) is a

Ukrainian-American Ukrainian Americans are Americans who are of full or partial Ukrainians, Ukrainian ancestry. According to U.S. census estimates, in 2021 there were 1,017,586 Americans of Ukrainian descent representing 0.3% of the American population. The Ukr ...

retired

freestyle Freestyle may refer to: Brands * Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe * Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile * Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine * Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott Laboritories Media * '' FreeStyle'', ...

and folkstyle wrestler, who currently coaches at Team Nazar Training Center. In

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, he was a five-time age-group National champion and a European age-group medalist. Since arriving to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, he captured Pan American runner-up honors, three Dave Schultz Memorial medals and a Cerro Pelado International gold medal. As a

collegiate wrestler Collegiate may refer to: * College * Webster's Dictionary, a dictionary with editions referred to as a "Collegiate" * ''Collegiate'' (1926 film), 1926 American silent film directed by Del Andrews * ''Collegiate'' (1936 film), 1936 American musi ...

, Kulchytskyy was a three-time NCAA Division III champion out of the

University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh The University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh (UW Oshkosh or UWO) is a public university in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, United States. It is part of the University of Wisconsin System and offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs to around 13,0 ...

Early life

Kulchytzkyy was born in Sosnivka, Ukraine. He started training in freestyle when he was seven years old and always had to wrestle older kids as those were the tournaments he qualified for. When he was twelve years old, he moved to

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

with his coach to attend

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

and follow a strict training program. Since then, he had tremendous success in the Ukrainian circuit, with five National titles as a cadet and a bronze medal at the Cadet European Championships of 2008, same year in which he and other members of his family were granted the green card visa they had been looking for, for years, to immigrate to the United States.

University

After his senior year of high school, in which he did not compete as he was considered a professional due to his accomplishments, Kulchytzkyy attended a Division III college in

. He's the most accomplished

wrestler Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves diffe ...

in the history of the Titans, having won three Division III National titles and earning ''

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is the lowest division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that do not offer athletic scholarships to student- ...

Wrestler of the Year honors'' twice. Despite his initial wish of transferring to a Division I university, he refused to transfer as a

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Aircraft * Ekolot JK-05L Junior, a Polish ultralight aircraft * PZL-112 Junior, a Polish training aircraft * SZD-51 Junior, a Polish-made training and club glider Arts and entertainment Characters * Bowser Jr., ...

and graduated with a 143–5 record, with only one loss to a DIII athlete.

Freestyle

Youth

Won a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

for

at the Cadet European Championships and was a multiple time National champion there. He also won a

FILA Fila (; ) is a South Korean-owned athleisure brand headquartered in Seoul. The company was originally founded by Ettore and Giansevero Fila in 1911 in Coggiola, near Biella, Italy. Fila Korea acquired the brand in 2007 and launched its initial p ...

USA National championship as a junior, where he defeated future three-time NCAA DI champion

Alex Dieringer Alex David Dieringer (born June 6, 1993) is an American Freestyle wrestling, freestyle wrestler and graduated Collegiate wrestling, folkstyle wrestler. In freestyle, he has had success in both the international and national circuit, claiming med ...

Senior

In 2014, Kulchytskyy was granted a

US citizenship Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constitu ...

and was able to compete at the 15' US World Team Trials Challenge tournament after winning the Northeastern Regionals. He went 2–2 at the tournament and did not qualify for the best-of-three. In 2017, he won a Cerro Pelado International gold medal and became the US Open

runner-up {{Short pages monitor