European champions Åhman and Hellvig take gold in Gstaad
Beach Pro Tour
Reigning European champions David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden led teams from the continent to a successful campaign in one of the most traditional stops of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour, the Elite16 tournament of Gstaad, Switzerland.
With the 22-year-old Swedes at the top of the men’s podium and two other European duos taking medals home, the tournament came to an end on Sunday in the Swiss Alps, leaving promising signs to the teams from the continent that will compete at the Paris Olympics later this month.
The title in Gstaad, obtained with a two-set (21-18, 21-18) victory over Brazilians Andre Loyola and George Wanderley, was the fourth consecutive won by the two-time European champions, who also triumphed in Tepic, Espinho and Ostrava and have a record of 29 wins and just two losses in 2024.
Jonatan Hellvig“This has been such a great season for us, it’s hard to explain everything that’s happening. We’ve been playing so many tight matches and we somehow manage to win them in the end.”
Swedish Beach Volleyball Player
The men’s tournament in Switzerland had an all-European bronze medal match and it was an excellent one, which ended with reigning Olympic champions Anders Mol and Christian Sørum of Norway narrowly overcoming Italians Paolo Nicolai and Samuele Cottafava in the tie-breaker (20-22, 22-20, 28-26).
Europe also celebrated bronze among the women, with Latvians Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova. The two-time European champions were dominant against Brazilians Ágatha Bednarczuk and Rebecca Cavalcanti, winning in straight sets (21-16, 21-10) to confirm their third-straight podium appearance on the Beach Pro Tour. Americans Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss overcame compatriots Terese Cannon and Megan Kraft in the dispute for gold in Gstaad.
Next week, the Beach Pro Tour will host its last Elite16 event before the Paris Olympics – the Austrian capital Vienna will welcome teams from around the world from Tuesday to Sunday.