Born in Kruhlae, Belarus, Iryna KURACHIKINA (BLR) won a bronze medal at the 2019 World Championships to qualify her country for the Tokyo Games. After winning her first bout, she lost to RONG Ningning of China in the Round of 16 but came back in repechage to beat Marina SIMONYAN of Russia and later Jowita WRZESIEN of Poland in the bronze medal bout. In 2017, she won the U23 European Championships and later a silver at the senior event before claiming the gold in 2018 at Senior Euros. She became the European champion again in 2021 in Warsaw, Poland and will be headed to Tokyo as the number three seed in her weight category.