Esmée and Zoé take gold at Guadalajara Challenge

Europe was represented in the finals of both genders at this week’s Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Challenge event held in Guadalajara, Mexico, getting mixed results in the fight for the titles.

While Swiss Esmée Böbner and Zoé Vergé-Dépré took gold among the women, securing the third European title in major events in the 2024 international season, Germans Lukas Pfretzschner and Sven Winter had to settle for silver in the men's tournament.

Esmée, 24, and Zoé, 26, got to celebrate their first Beach Pro Tour victory with this week’s title in Mexico. The two, who had triumphed in an FIVB World Tour one-star event back in 2018, defeated Brazilian Olympians Ágatha Bednarczuk and Rebecca Cavalcanti in the two-set (21-12, 21-16) final in Guadalajara.

The Swiss, who recovered from an opening-match loss to Thais Worapeerachayakorn Kongphopsarutawadee and Taravadee Naraphornrapat in the event to win five consecutive matches on their way to taking gold, also scored valuable 800 points in the race to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics. They had a silver medal won at last year’s Jurmala Challenge as their best result on the Beach Pro Tour so far.

Also involved in the Olympic qualification process, Germans Sandra Ittlinger and Karla Borger came up one win short of stepping on the podium in Mexico, falling to Canadians Heather Bansley and Sophie Bukovec in straight sets (21-18, 21-14) in the bronze medal match.

In the men’s event, Germans Lukas Pfretzschner and Sven Winter made a surprising run to the final in their fifth event as partners, but were stopped by Americans Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner, who came from behind to win 2-1 (12-21, 21-19, 15-12).

Pfretzschner, 24, and Winter, 25, won five straight matches to make it to the gold medal match in Guadalajara to win their first medals together – it was Winter’s eighth and Pfretzschner’s third overall podium appearance at the international level. Together, they finished fourth at last year’s Goa Challenge.

After the Germans, four European teams finished fifth in Guadalajara – the Netherlands’ Steve van de Velde/Matthew Immers, Ukraine’s Sergiy Popov/Eduard Reznik, France’s Julien Lyneel/Remi Bassereau and Spain’s Pablo Herrera/Adrián Gavira.

The Beach Pro Tour continues in Mexico for another week, now moving to Tepic, which will host the second Elite16 event of the season from Wednesday to Sunday.