European teams complete clean podium sweeps at U21 Worlds
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Ukraine’s Anhelina Khmil/Tetiana Lazarenko and Sweden’s David Åhman/Jonatan Hellvig stood on top of the podium at the 2021 FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championships after winning Sunday’s gold medal matches in the women’s and the men’s tournaments, respectively, at Bangtao Beach in Phuket.
The 18-year-old Khmil and Lazarenko, who had claimed the bronze medal at last week’s U19 World Championship at the same venue in Thailand, went all the way to claim the U21 title after a dramatic 2-1 (21-17, 18-21, 17-15) victory over third-seeded Daniela Alvarez Mendoza and Sofia Gonzalez Racero of Spain in the women’s final.
The Ukrainian girls, seeded 21st in the main draw, survived three opponent match points in the tiebreaker before emerging victorious. They went through the whole tournament undefeated and, in the last two games before the gold medal match, they produced a 2-0 (21-19, 21-13) quarterfinal shutout of third-seeded Mariia Bocharova and Elizaveta Gubina of Russia and a 2-0 (21-11, 25-23) semi-final victory over sixth-seeded Menia Bentele and Leona Kernen of Switzerland on Saturday.
It is already the eighth international podium for the Ukrainian teens. They claimed the titles at the 2020 CEV U18 European Championships and one of this year’s FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 1-star events in Sofia as well. They have also earned three bronze medals on the World Tour and one at this year’s U22 European Championships.
Sixth-seeded Bentele and Kernen reached the semi-finals after a convincing 2-0 (21-15, 21-13) shutout of seventh-seeded Australians Alisha Stevens and Stefanie Fejes in the quarterfinals. After losing to Khmil and Lazarenko in the semis, the Swiss pair came back to secure a 2-1 (21-11, 18-21, 15-11) win over Latvia’s Varvara Brailko and Anete Namike. Both Bentele and Kernen have previously won medals at European age-category championships with different partners, but the bronze in Phuket is their first FIVB podium.
Åhman and Hellvig, reigning Youth Olympic champions from Buenos Aires 2018, topped the U21 men’s podium in Phuket after losing only a single set throughout tournament, in their hard-earned 2-1 (21-13, 17-21, 17-15) victory over Italy’s Gianluca Dal Corso and Marco Viscovich in Sunday’s final. Åhman and Hellvig’s international record also includes a gold and a bronze on the FIVB World Tour, as well as three age-category European Championship titles. Hellvig turned 20 in October, while Åhman won the U21 title on his very last full day as a teenager.
Fourth-seeded Dmitrii Veretiuk and Aleksei Arkhipov of Russia cruised through the first three knockout rounds beating teams from Hungary, Germany and Brazil, all in straight sets. They stumbled in their semi-final against the Italians, but returned to claim a hard-fought 2-0 (28-26, 21-19) victory over Jakub Sepka and Tomas Semerad in the bronze medal match, getting back at the Czechs for the three-set loss in the pool. While Veretiuk won gold at the 2018 U19 World Championships, Arkhipov claimed his first FIVB medal in Phuket. Both of them have previously medalled at CEV continental age-category championships with different partners.
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