From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishreigning championreigning championDSthe most recent winner of a competition Can he defeat the reigning Wimbledon champion? → reign
Examples from the Corpus
reigning champion• Cool Californian Wayne Rainey is the reigning champion.• Fittipaldi's victory made the championship score 4- Points to the pretender and 27 to the reigning champion.• No reigning champions are left in the championships, although Olympic qualification needs barred several from entering.• She is also the reigning champion, having won four consecutive games.• Bobby Rahal, the reigning champion in the current Indy Car series, has tried to develop a domestic car-building programme.• There is not now a reigning champion left in the event.• The match of the day is between reigning champions Silksworth and hopefuls Houghton. 