Europeans claim all six medals in Cape Town ahead of World Championship

European beach volleyball gave a sign of strength in the last big event before the 2025 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship, claiming all six medals in play in the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite tournament held this week in Cape Town, South Africa.

Teams from the continent occupied all three spots on both the men’s and the women’s podium in South Africa, entirely dominating an Elite event for the first time in the season. Duos from Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Austria and Norway were the ones winning medals this week.

The only nation to win multiple medals, Germany sent two teams to the women’s podium. Topping it were 2024 European champions Svenja Müller and Cinja Tillmann, who claimed the title with a straight-set (21-17, 25-23) victory over Dutch Olympians Katja Stam and Raisa Schoon.

Sandra Ittlinger and Anna-Lena Grüne earned a second medal for Germany in Cape Town, beating Latvian Olympians and two-time European champions Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova in the tie-breaker (17-21, 21-15, 15-9) to rank third and take bronze.

The men’s final in South Africa featured two of the most promising young teams on the continent right now and had Swedish Jacob Hölting Nilsson and Elmer Andersson prevailing over Austrians Tim Berger and Timo Hammarberg in straight sets (21-15, 21-18) to secure gold.

Completing the podium were Norwegians Hendrik Mol and Mathias Berntsen, who triumphed in the all-European bronze medal match, taking down French Rémi Bassereau and Calvin Aye in three sets (21-18, 14-21, 15-8) to take bronze.

The biggest event of the 2025 season, the World Championships will be held in Adelaide, Australia, from November 14-23.