European men determined to defend Olympic title at Paris 2024
Beach Volleyball Preview
Representing ten different counties, a group of 13 beach volleyball men’s teams from Europe starts on Saturday, July 27, its participation at the Paris 2024 Olympics determined to keep the continent at the top of the sport at the international level.
The men’s tournament of the Paris Games will be held from July 27 to August 10 at the iconic 14,000-seat Eiffel Tower Stadium, a temporary venue built at the feet of the monument that best represents France around the world and that is one of the postcards of the event.
In Tokyo, three years ago, European beach volleyball celebrated its second triumph at the Olympics among the men, with Norwegian stars Anders Mol and Christian Sørum claiming the title – Germans Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann were the first men in the continent to win gold, in London 2012.
The Beach Volley Vikings will be in Paris to defend their title and if, they manage to do so, they will be the first men’s team in Olympic beach volleyball history to triumph in multiple editions of the event. Mol and Sørum, who won four straight European titles between 2018 and 2021, recently topped the podium at the Volleyball World Vienna Elite16, the last major international tournament held before the Games, moving up to second place in the FIVB World Rankings.
Reigning European champions David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig are another team with the potential to end the Paris Games with the gold medal around their necks. The Swedish climbed to first place in the World Rankings in April and are in excellent form, having appeared in the finals of the last ten tournaments they played, winning eight of them.
Other European teams strongly positioned to fight for gold in Paris are Germans Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler, who are fourth in the world, Dutch Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot, who rank fifth, and Czechs Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner, who appear in sixth place and are the reigning world champions, having won the title in 2023.
The Netherlands, which will also be represented by Matthew Immers/Steven van de Velde, is one of three European nations that have qualified two teams for the Games on the men’s side. Italy, with Paolo Nicolai/Samuele Cottafava and Alex Ranghieri/Adrian Carambula, and hosts France, with Youssef Krou/Arnaud Gauthier-Rat and Rémi Bassereau/Julien Lyneel, are the others.
A European player is set to break a record in Paris as 42-year-old Spanish Pablo Herrera, who won silver in his first Olympic appearance, back in Athens 2004, will become the first beach volleyball player to participate in six editions of the Games. Partner Adrián Gavira and him also became the first team in the sport to qualify for four Olympics.
Completing the list of European Olympic teams set to compete in Paris are Polish Michal Bryl and Bartosz Łosiak, who rank 11th in the world, and Austrians Alexander Horst, who will represent his country for a fourth time, and Julian Hörl, who will make his first appearance.
The 24 men’s teams that qualified for the Paris Games were split into six pools of four for the first phase of the tournament. At the end of pool play, all six pool winners and runners-up will advance to the Round of 16, as well as the two best third-placed duos.
The four remaining third-placed teams will compete in the lucky loser round, with the two match winners completing the lineup for the elimination rounds. From the Round of 16 on, the tournament progresses in a single-elimination format.
The men’s tournament in Paris starts on Saturday and two European teams will be in action in Pool A matches. Åhman and Hellvig will face Australians Izac Carracher and Mark Nicolaidis at 15:00 local time, while Nicolai and Cottafava will meet Qataris Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan at 23:00 local time.