Yianni Diakomihalis isnโt looking at Penn State wrestling commit PJ Duke as a youthful upstart.
Duke beat two national champs in the same day at the Senior World Team Trials, and his reward is facing a guy who won four at Final X.
Simply put, Diakomihalisย is one of the best college wrestlers ever.
Only seven wrestlers have won four national titles, and Diakomihalis is one of them, winning four for Cornell.
Diakomihalis is as hard to wrestle as his last name is to spell, and he knows all about PJ Duke.
WHAT YIANNI SAID
Diakomihalis got to know Duke during Dukeโs visits to Cornell as a high school recruit bur the relationship even predates that.
Due to Dukeโs friendship with Diakomihalisโ younger brother, Elijahโ who is Dukeโs age and also is from the state of New Yorkโ Yianni has known Duke since he was in the seventh grade.
Duke won his first ย New York State Title when he was in the seventh grade, and no, thatโs not a typo.
But Diakomihalis said in an interview on FloWrestlingโs โThe Bader Showโ that it โdidnโt really clickโ how good Duke was until last yearโs World Team Trials, where he took third.
โI was like โwoah, hold on.โโ Diakomihalis said ย with a laugh. โClearly, heโs gotten better.โ
Duke has continued to get better in 2025, winning another state title and beating national champions Antrell Taylor and Ridge Lovettโ both of Nebraskaโ at this yearโs World Trials, held this past weekend.
โHeโs cutting weight for 70 (KG), I think heโs at a decent size,โ Diakomihalis said. โPretty strong, it looks like. Obviously, heโs young, so you would think heโs going to get better , right?โ
โWhen we talked about the 2028 Olympic team, well heโs going to be a guy that I might have to beat.โ
But is the future Penn State wrestling star ready to be a force on the Senior Circuit right now?
โI donโt know,โ Diakomihalis said. ย โI wonder what heโs going to do. I know the U20 trials are in two weeks. Heโs sitting in the finals there, also at 70. I donโt know if making Final X is going to affect him competing there or not. But if not, (Iโll) probably watch him there and see what happens and then get ready to rock at Final X.โ
So what does Duke do well?
โHeโs pretty good at upper body ties,โ Diakomihalis said. โHe has a good like two-on-one, under hook, seatbelt kind of series. You know, he kind of wrestles almost like he wrestles judo. You know what I mean? Where heโs shooting but heโs always trying to attack the hips or attack your shoulder.
โSo I think with him, itโs like good shot selection and just being really disciplined. Ironically, a lot of the things Iโve been working on kind of are relevant in this match, specifically, right? Because itโs like โkeep your elbows tight, be a good finisher, wrestle really hard. Letโs force him to have to stay in shape and keep up with me for six minutes.โโ
NOT A KID
The narrative going into this bout is going to be that of a grown man vs. a kid but Diakomihalis (the grown man) doesnโt see it that way.
โHe is 19 and he just beatโฆ of all the other senior-level wrestlers we have available, he beat them,โ Diakomihalis said. ย โThis is the No. 2 guy in America. So Iโm going to come in there and wrestle him like my World Championship is on the mind. Because it is.โ
Final X is scheduled for June 14 in Newark, New Jersey.
