Interim partnership scoops top honours at Norwegian championships

This past week, Anders Mol and Christian Sørum made history for Norway (and Europe) to become the youngest Olympic champions ever in men’s Beach Volleyball at Tokyo 2020.

Many members of Norway’s Volleyball family followed their achievement from Kristiansand – where the 2021 edition of the national Beach Volleyball championships took place from Friday through to Sunday. The captain of the Norwegian men’s Volleyball team, Jonas Kvalen, joined forces with another member of the Vikings’ clan, Mathias Berntsen, to claim the national crown without dropping a single set in the process. Kvalen is one of a very few Norwegian players to have ventured abroad, with stints in Poland, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland and most recently in the Turkish league.

Berntsen usually plays with his cousin Hendrik Mol, the elder brother of Olympic and three-time European champion Anders, and since Hendrik has decided to take a break from the sport, Mathias found in Jonas Kvalen the ideal partner for the domestic competition. After spending some time training together at the home of the Mol family, they soon showed they had developed the right chemistry and did not leave any chance to any of their five opponents in Kristiansand, including Lars Fredrik Tvinde and Martin Olimstad, whom they beat 21-17, 21-17 in the final.

Even though this was just an interim partnership, who knows what the future holds for Norwegian Beach Volleyball, as we can be sure that Anders and Christian have inspired many back home to follow their example and emulate their historic achievement!

In the women’s final, a match featuring two teams due to compete at EuroBeachVolley later this week in Vienna, Ane Guro Tveit Hjortland and Sunniva Helland-Hansen beat Ingrid Lunde and Emilie Olimstad 21-14, 21-17.