Beach Volleyball

Olympic champions take gold and bronze in João Pessoa

Beach Pro Tour

Article Mon, Oct 21 2024
Author: Guilherme Torres

The winners of the last two editions of the Olympic Games, Norway’s Anders Mol/Christian Sørum and Sweden’s David Åhman/Jonatan Hellvig took Europe to the podium of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite16 event held in João Pessoa, Brazil, this week.

Norwegians and Swedish stand at the podium in Brazil (Photo: Volleyball World)

The gold medalists of the Tokyo Games in 2021, Mol and Sørum triumphed in the Brazilian event, securing their third-straight title on the Beach Pro Tour – they also won in Vienna, in July, and Hamburg, in August. Åhman and Hellvig, who took gold at the Paris Olympics two months, ago, returned to competition after their victory in the French capital taking bronze in Brazil.

In the gold medal match in João Pessoa, the Norwegians had to battle to overcome Qatari Olympic medalists Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan, coming back from a set down and from a 13-10 deficit in the tie-breaker to win 2-1 (25-27, 21-17, 19-17).

“This is the greatest final we’ve ever played. Qatar is such a strong team and we’ve had so many battles over the years, but this was by far the most intense and most spectacular match we’ve had against them.”

Anders Mol
Norwegian Beach Volleyball Player

Before the final, Mol and Sørum won another battle, beating Åhman and Hellvig 2-1 (22-20, 18-21, 15-10) in the semifinals, keeping the Swedish out of a final for the first time in over a year and stopping their incredible run that resulted in titles in the last six tournaments they had played.

The Olympic champions recovered to finish third, beating the Argentinean Capogrosso brothers Nicolas and Tomas 2-1 (19-21, 21-18, 15-11) and securing their sixth medal and first bronze of the season.

The women’s title went to Brazil’s Thamela Coradello and Victoria Lopes, who defeated compatriots Talita Antunes and Taiana Lima in the final. Americans Kimberly Hildreth and Teegan Van Gunst completed the podium in third place.

The most successful European women’s team in João Pessoa was the one of Germans Sandra Ittlinger and Kim Van de Velde, who started the tournament in the qualifier and finished fifth.

Brazil is also the next stop of the Beach Pro Tour, with the city of Rio de Janeiro set to host an Elite16 event from November 6-10.

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