Three Scandinavian teams plus France reach EuroBeachVolley men’s semis

Two teams from Sweden – Åhman/Hellvig and Hölting Nilsson/Andersson, the gold and silver medal winners from last year’s World Championships in Adelaide – will lock horns in one of the men’s semi-finals at the CEV EuroBeachVolley 2026 in Stare Jablonki on Sunday. In the other semi-final, last year’s World Championships bronze medallists Téo Rotar and Arnaud Gauthier-Rat of France will challenge five-time winners of the continental event, the Beach Volley Vikings Anders Mol and Christian Sørum. The CEV EuroBeachVolley 2026 champions will also secure a spot for their National Olympic Committee to compete at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. 

Saturday’s programme in Stare Jablonki started with a drama-filled quarterfinal match where France’s Arnaud Gauthier-Rat and Téo Rotar fought their way back from a set down to edge the real sensation of the men’s tournament, Austria’s Moritz Pristauz and Philipp Waller (18-21, 21-18, 15-13). Actually, the Austrians seemed likely to continue their race further in the tournament – especially as they came from behind in a closely contested second set, but some mistakes creeped in towards the end and the bronze medallists from last year’s World Championship eventually had the upper hand in the tiebreak as well. France has not won a single medal in the men’s competition since the inaugural edition of EuroBeachVolley held in 1993 in Almeria – where Christian Penigaud and Jean-Philippe Jodard crowned themselves the first-ever European champions. Gauthier-Rat and Rotar showed some classy acts during the quarterfinal with the Austrians – even though they had their ups and downs as well – and they certainly will vie for a medal when the competition resumes on Sunday with the semis. 

Five-time European champions Anders Mol and Christian Sørum of Norway remain in contention for an unprecedented sixth continental crown as they claimed a closely contested quarterfinal match with Steven van de Velde/Yorick de Groot of the Netherlands (21-19, 22-20) where Mol’s imposing presence at the net accounted for much excitement and raucous reactions from the local crowd. The Vikings are already the most decorated team in EuroBeachVolley history and their run will continue on Sunday with the semi-final and subsequent medal matches before Mol moves to Italy play for Rana VERONA this coming club season. “It was another truly close and fierce battle and therefore we are extremely happy to be in the semis,” Mol admitted. 

The world’s top-ranked team, Sweden’s young guns Jacob Hölting Nilsson and Elmer Andersson have reached the EuroBeachVolley semis for the first time but they had to work hard to edge past Switzerland’s Adrian Heidrich and Yves Haussener. The vice-world champions looked in full control after winning the first set and leading the way in the second – but as they had already set their sights on the finish line, Heidrich and Haussener mounted a terrific comeback, which resulted in a tiebreaking set. There, Hölting Nilsson and Andersson, buoyed by the support of a large contingent of Swedish fans all dressed in blue and yellow, refocussed and eventually secured their spot among the top four of the competition courtesy of a 21-17, 19-21, 15-11 win. 

Their first-ever EuroBeachVolley semi-final will be a derby with their much decorated countrymen, reigning Olympic and World champions David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig, who routinely and flawlessly advanced to the top four with a 2-0 victory over France’s Rémi Bassereau and Calvin Ayé (21-16, 21-18). The 2022 and 2023 European champions are vying for a third continental crown but first they will have to beat their younger training partners in a repeat of last year’s all-Swedish World Championship final. “Maybe it looked easy, but it was not an easy match at all,” said Hellvig. “We truly appreciate the support we have been receiving from the fans and especially from the Swedish contingent here. As for tomorrow’s semi-final, we will come up with something, but we won’t tell more for now,” he joked.