Staff Directory

Sebastian Rivera

Title:
David and Michael Barry Assistant Coach of Wrestling
Email:

2024 Olympic Bronze Medalist Sebastian Rivera joined the Columbia wrestling staff in September 2024 as the David and Michael Barry Assistant Coach of Wrestling.

Rivera has represented Puerto Rico at an international level since 2021 and has worked his way to becoming a leader in the wrestling world. His crowning achievement was his Olympic Bronze Medal representing Puerto Rico this past August. The path that led him to Paris includes placing seventh and fifth in 2021 and 2022. He finally punched his ticket to the Olympic Games with a World Silver Medal at the 2023 World Championships in Serbia. Sebastian also achieved silver and bronze at the Pan American Championship in 2022 and 2023, silver in 2023 at the Central American and Caribbean Games and gold at the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series and the Grand Prix of Spain.

Pritzlaff has developed a close bond with Rivera after coaching Rivera at the collegiate level at Rutgers and internationally at the Olympics and the World Championships.

“We are thrilled to have Sebastian on our team and are fortunate to have such a talented and disciplined individual in Morningside Heights,” Pritzlaff said. “Seb will have an immediate impact on the program by developing our students into champions. Sebastian’s experiences and accomplishments throughout his competitive career will inspire and drive our culture to a new level. I’m extremely excited to continue our relationship working together at Columbia University.”

Rivera has achieved every wrestler’s goal of being an All-American all five years of his collegiate career. Earning his undergraduate degree at Northwestern, Rivera took sixth, third, and was voted to be 1st Team All-American by the NWCA in 2020 after securing his second Big Ten title in exhilarating fashion, which earned him the number one seed just a mere few weeks before Covid-19 shut down the NCAA Championships. At Rutgers while he earned his master’s degree, Rivera took fourth at NCAA Championships in 2021 and third in 2022, which was a remarkable season for him with a record of 30-1.

Much of Rivera’s life has been centered around wrestling as his father, Steve was a four-time Division III All American and NCAA Champion at TCNJ. He also owns the Elite Wrestling Club in Jackson, New Jersey where Sebastian still frequents to develop other wrestler’s passion and maintain his own. The Columbia Wrestling community is excited to welcome Sebastian and his family to the team.