Åhman and Hellvig having fun on the sand in Utrecht
News
David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig had some busy and unusual days back home in Sweden after their historic victory at the 2022 CEV EuroBeachVolley in Munich last month, but the continental champions are back in their natural environment this week as they compete at the Queen & King of the Court European Finals 2022 in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
The 20-year-old rising stars were responsible for the biggest moment of Swedish beach volleyball to date in Munich and were welcomed back home in their country appropriately, in a scenario that they never have experienced before, but certainly deserved.
Jonatan Hellvig“We got a lot of recognition back home in Sweden for our victory at the EuroBeachVolley. It was the first time we got the attention of the big, national media and we’ve done a lot of interviews. It was really different, we’re not really used to getting all that attention, but it was very fun and important.”
Swedish Beach Volleyball Player
Now, the two hope that the impact of their accomplishment lasts longer than a few weeks and impacts more people than simply the ones that watched them on TV or read the articles about their victory.
In order for that to happen, they know, more good results will be needed and they already have their next big goal in mind – qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Jonatan Hellvig“We really hope that our success can influence other people to start playing beach volleyball, we obviously want to help the sport grow. Our next goal is to qualify for the Olympics. We’ll work very hard the next couple of years to accomplish it and hopefully we can compete in Paris.”
Swedish Beach Volleyball Player
In Utrecht, the two found themselves back in a familiar environment, competing against the best teams of Europe for the crown of the first edition of the tournament. Åhman and Hellvig have competed in the King of the Court format before and took the title when the event made a stop in Utrecht last year.
David Åhman“We have great memories from last year. It’s great to be back here in Utrecht to play King of the Court. Our goal is to try to repeat last year, but we know it’s going to be really difficult because there are some really good teams here. It’s a really fun game style. It’s really fast and there are always spectacular rallies. We like the format and it’s been working really well for us so far.”
Swedish Beach Volleyball Player
So far, everything has been going as planned for the new European champions. After winning Pool C on Wednesday, Åhman and Hellvig also triumphed in the quarterfinals. They were the top-ranked team in quarterfinal B, outscoring Germans Clemens Wickler and Benedikt Sagstetter and Dutch Christiaan Varenhorst and Ruben Penning by ten points to eight - all three teams advanced to the semifinals.
The three teams to advance from quarterfinal A were the Netherlands’ Mart van Werkhoven/Matthew Immers, France’s Youssef Krou/Arnaud Gauthier-Rat and Norway’s Hendrik Mol/Mathias Berntsen. From the quarterfinal C, emerged Norway's Anders Mol/Christian Sørum, the Netherlands' Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen and Ukraine's Sergiy Popov/Eduard Reznik.
The last spot in the semifinals will be determined on Saturday, in a playoff round reuniting Estonia’s Mart Tiisaar/Kusti Nolvak, Norway’s Markus Mol/Sven Solhaug and Austria’s Paul Pascariuc/Laurenz Leitner.
The women’s tournament saw Ukraine’s Inna Makhno/Iryna Makhno, Switzerland’s Anouk Vergé-Dépré/Menia Bentele and Clara Denmark’s Clara Windeleff/Sofia Bisgaard emerge from quarterfinal A, the Netherlands’ Pleun Ypma/Emi van Driel, Germany’s Karla Borger/Chantal Laboureur and Ukraine’s Valentyna Davidova/Ievgeniia Baieva advance from quarterfinal B and Switzerland’s Nina Brunner/Tanja Hüberli, Lithuania’s Ieva Dumbauskaite/Gerda Grudzinskaite and Slovenia’s Tjasa Kotnik/Tajda Lovsin succeed on quarterfinal C.
The final spot in the semifinals is between France’s Alexia Richard/Lezana Placette, Norway’s Sunniva Helland-Hansen/Emilie Olimstad and the Netherlands’ Raisa Schoon/Katja Stam, who will compete in a playoff series.
On Saturday, the two best teams in each of the two semifinal series in each gender will advance to the finals. The last spot will be contested by the third and fourth best-placed teams in each series in an extra playoff round.
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