Queen Chantal has left the court

Shortly after her coronation as the first European Queen of the Court, Chantal Laboureur… left the court. One of Europe’s best defenders in beach volleyball put an end to her athletic career just two years short of possibly fulfilling her Olympic dream at the Games in Paris.

“It would have been ‘just two years’, but also ‘still two more years’,” the 32-year-old German player told cev.eu, explaining her decision. “I stopped because I felt that private life got more and more important for me and, in the end, I also want to start a family. I can no longer prioritize beach volleyball for another two years.”

Last month’s inaugural Queen & King of the Court European Finals were, in fact, one of the very last professional tournaments in Laboureur’s career as a beach volleyballer. After she and Karla Borger triumphed in Utrecht, Laboureur won gold at the 2022 International Military Sports Council Beach Cup in Warendorf alongside Cinja Tillmann and then played her last two VW Beach Pro Tour events, the Paris Elite16 and the Maldives Challenge, together with her last regular partner, Sarah Schulz.

Laboureur started her international career some 15 years ago, when she and Levke Spinger took to the sand courts of the 2007 CEV U18 Beach Volleyball European Championship in Czechia and brought home the continental trophy. In 2008, they also celebrated as U19 world champions in the Netherlands. Later on, Chantal added two more podiums at U23 European Championships to her collection, a 2011 bronze and a 2012 gold.

The German athlete started playing on the senior European Tour in 2009 and achieved her first medal at the 2013 Montpellier Satellite, where she and Julia Sude took bronze. The pair went on to win several continental gold medals at the Masters level - Biel/Bienne 2014, Baku 2014, Jurmala 2016 and Baden 2017, as well as bronze at the 2017 CEV European Championship in Latvia.

“I remember all these very well,” said Laboureur. “My first international tournament was the CEV U18 European Championships in Brno 15 years ago, followed by years on the European Tour and the bronze medals at the European Championships in Jurmala with ice hockey fans from Germany cheering for us. I don’t even remember right now how many European Championships I attended, but it felt like a lot.”

Of course, the memories of her last EuroBeachVolley, played in August of this year at home in Munich, are still fresh. Laboureur & Schulz finished fifth in what Chantal said was “an outstanding atmosphere.”

“Big hug to my youngest partner Sarah, by the way! She is one of the kindest players and persons I know!” she exclaimed.

Laboureur enjoyed plenty of success outside CEV competition as well. She earned two gold, six silver and three bronze medals on the FIVB World Tour and added a silver medal from this year’s inaugural VW Beach Pro Tour. She was very close to reaching her ultimate goal of competing at the Olympics, but she and Sandra Ittlinger lost the deciding match at the Tokyo 2020 qualification tournament in China. Laboureur claimed three national championship titles in Germany and the honor of being named Germany’s Player of the Year in 2018. Last year she also won the German King of the Court tournament.

“So many great memories! And so many great tournaments! I really enjoyed the time and I want to thank everybody who was or still is involved in making us players have a good time!” Laboureur added. “Beach volleyball gave me so much, but as a professional athlete you have to sacrifice a big part of your social life, for example. We are far from home for many weeks and we can’t attend family life like others do. I love this sport so much and if I could do everything at the same time and the day had 48 hours, I would probably play until I'm 50, but that’s not the case.

“Now I will travel for some time and, when I come back, I will finish my medical studies (I have one year of practical work left) and aim at having kids.”

And then, who knows, maybe she will gracefully return to the sand courts in one role or another…