Herrera and Gavira lead European podium sweep in La Paz
News
European men continue in great form at the 2023 Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour as the continent secured its second podium sweep in the young season with three teams stepping at the podium of the La Paz Challenge, in Mexico.
The first Challenge tournament of the 2023 season had Spanish veterans Pablo Herrera and Adrian Gavira in the first place, Dutch Stefan Boermans and Yorick De Groot taking silver and the new Austrian team of Robin Seidl and Moritz Pristauz completing the podium in Mexico. It was a repeat of the season-opening Doha Elite16, in February, when Norway’s Anders Mol/Christian Sørum, Sweden’s Jonatan Hellvig/David Åhman and Italy’s Adrian Carambula/Alex Ranghieri collected the medals in play.
The longest-lasting active partnership in international beach volleyball, Herrera and Gavira returned to the top of the podium after five years of wait. The two, who represented Spain in the last three Olympics, defeated Boermans and De Groot 2-1 (21-17, 15-21, 15-12) in the gold medal match.
Pablo Herrera“To get back to the podium after five years is incredible. We had some issues with the wind at the start but I feel that every day we got better used to it. The final was an amazing battle. We work hard to win every day, but didn't really expect to have such a good result here in La Paz.”
Spanish Beach Volleyball Player
The second-place finish in La Paz was also a very positive result for Boermans and De Groot, who played their first event together in ten months in Mexico. The two had a spectacular 2021 season, taking silver at the EuroBeachVolley and winning a World Tour stop in Gstaad, but De Groot sustained a thoracic hernia at the start of 2022 and missed the remainder for the season.
Seidl, 33, and Pristauz, 26, enjoyed great success in their first tournament as partners. The two, who joined forces only a month ago, won five of their six matches in La Paz, including a Round of 16 duel with their former partners, Philipp Waller and Martin Ermacora. In the bronze medal match, the Europeans topped Brazilians Evandro Gonçalves and Arthur Lanci in straight sets (21-16, 26-24).
European beach volleyball came up only one win short of also stepping on the podium in the women’s tournament as the Austrian Klinger sisters Dorina and Ronja saw their incredible campaign in La Paz end with a fourth-place finish.
The Austrians began the week in the qualifiers and won five of their first six matches in Mexico to make it to the semifinals. On Sunday, however, they lost to Americans Savvy Simo and Toni Rodriguez 2-1 (21-18, 17-21, 15-10) in the semifinals and to Brazilians Tainá Bigi and Victoria Lopes 2-0 (21-17, 21-18) in the bronze medal match.
European teams continue in Mexico for another week as the Beach Pro Tour will host another tournament in the country, the Tepic Elite16 from Wednesday to Sunday.
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