Georgi Ivanov began gaining international recognition at the cadet level, winning the silver medal in the 110 kg category at the 2019 European Cadets Wrestling Championships held in Faenza, Italy.[2]
In 2022, he earned a bronze medal at the European U20 Championships in Rome, competing in the 125 kg freestyle category.[3] The same year, he represented Bulgaria at the 2022 U20 World Wrestling Championships in Sofia, where he defeated Japan's Ryusei Fujita in the qualification round but lost to Nicholas Feldman of the United States in the quarter-finals. He secured another bronze medal through repechage.[4]
Ivanov transitioned successfully to the U23 level, capturing the gold medal at the 2023 European U23 Wrestling Championships held in Bucharest. He achieved dominant wins over Azamat Khosonov (Russia), Efe Anıl (Turkey), and Volodymyr Kochanov (Ukraine) in the final by technical superiority (10–0).[5]
Later in 2023, he competed at the Senior European Wrestling Championships in Zagreb, where he defeated Alexandr Romanov (Moldova) in the qualification round (8–1) but lost in the quarter-finals to Daniel Ligeti (Hungary) by points (1–8), finishing in the top eight.[6]
In 2024, Ivanov participated in the Dan Kolov & Nikola Petrov Tournament in Sofia, where he won the gold medal in the 125 kg category, further establishing himself among Bulgaria's top heavyweights.[7]
The following year, in 2025, he claimed silver at the same tournament held in Varna, losing in the final but outperforming many international contenders.[8]
His most notable achievement in 2025 was at the European U23 Wrestling Championships in Tirana, Albania. He won all of his matches convincingly, including a technical fall victory over Volodymyr Kochanov in the final (11–0), securing his second continental U23 title.[9]
Ivanov also represented Bulgaria at the 2025 Yaşar Doğu Tournament in Kocaeli, Turkey, where he won a bronze medal in the men's freestyle 125 kg category after defeating athletes from Kazakhstan and Turkey in repechage rounds.[10]
Bulgaria
