Mol and Sørum win gold at the Finals in Doha
Beach Pro Tour
Led by Tokyo Olympic champions Anders Mol and Christian Sørum, who won gold in the men’s tournament, European beach volleyball teams took home one medal of each color at the season-ending Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Finals, which were held in Doha, Qatar, this weekend.
Besides the Norwegians, who won the title for the third time, also represented the continent at the podium at the Aspire Park Paris Olympic champions David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden, who took silver among the men, and two-time European champions Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova of Latvia, who claimed bronze in the women’s event.
The victory in Qatar further solidifies the Beach Volley Vikings as the second most successful beach volleyball team in history at the international level. They have 26 victories and are just eight behind legendary Brazilians Ricardo Santos and Emanuel Rego.
Mol and Sørum, who took bronze in Paris a few months ago, earning their second Olympic medals, met Åhman and Hellvig for a second time in the tournament after losing to the Swedish in pool play on Thursday. This time, the Norwegians were better in the key moments, securing a tight two-set (21-18, 22-20) victory to claim the title.
Anders Mol“It feels amazing to be on top of the podium here at the last tournament of the season. We have worked hard this year, got back from injury, we battled hard at the Olympics and now, to take this Beach Pro Tour Finals and be on top is an amazing feeling. This also gives us a lot of motivation to keep working now in the off-season. Super, super proud of this game.”
Norwegian Beach Volleyball Player
Europe had a chance to perform a medal sweep on the men’s side, but Dutch Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot fell to Qatari Olympic medalists Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan by the tightest of the margins (18-21, 21-15, 17-15) and finished fourth, not making it to the podium.
On the women’s side, Tina and Anastasija took Europe to the podium with a two-set (24-22, 21-16) victory over Chinese Chen Xue and Xinyi Xia in the bronze medal match. The Latvians fell to Americans Terese Cannon and Megan Kraft, who took silver, in the semifinals. The women’s champions were Americans Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss, who successfully defended the title they had won last season.
The Finals marked the end of the 2024 season of the Beach Pro Tour. The 2025 calendar is expected to be released over the next few weeks.