Swiss and Ukrainians lead European domination in Poland
Beach Pro Tour
European beach volleyball teams had an entirely successful journey at this week’s Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Challenge event held in Warmia Mazury, Poland, taking home all six medals in play in the event.
After matches were held from Wednesday to Sunday in the city of Stare Jablonki, men’s teams from Switzerland, hosts Poland and Germany, and women’s duos from Ukraine, Germany and France stepped on the podium at Anders Hotel Beach.
The men’s gold medal match in Warmia Mazury brought frustration to the home fans and excitement to Swiss Marco Krattiger and Leo Diller, who came back from a 13-6 deficit in the first set to beat Polish Olympians Michal Bryl and Bartosz Łosiak 2-1 (25-23, 16-21, 16-14) and secure their first title as partners.
Marco Krattiger“I don’t think I can explain what just happened. We had a very good first set, but I struggled a lot with my passing in the second and they were serving bombs all the time. I felt that we had a chance in the third set, but then we were down again. I thought the match was already over, but we still kept trying and somehow, we had the opportunity and we were able to take it.”
Swiss Beach Volleyball Player
Germans Paul Henning and Lui Wüst were awarded the bronze medals after reigning Olympic champions David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig couldn’t get on the court to play for third place and also made it to the podium.
The women’s gold medal match also had a comeback, with Ukrainians Maryna Hladun and Tetiana Lazarenko coming back to beat Germans Linda Bock and Louisa Lippmann 2-1 (19-21, 21-14, 15-11) and triumph.
Maryna Hladun“We like to play in Poland because it’s really close to our country and the people are always really nice to us. They support us so much.”
Ukrainian Beach Volleyball Player
In the bronze medal match, French Clémence Vieira and Aline Chamereau swept (21-18, 21-18) Americans Julia Donlin and Lexy Denaburg to complete the all-European women’s podium in Poland.
Next week, the Beach Pro Tour will head to Gstaad, Switzerland, for an Elite event.