April Ross’ Olympic medal set is complete. After winning silver and bronze in previous Olympics, Ross and her partner Alix Klineman stormed to Olympic gold sweeping away Australia’s Artacho Del Solar/ Clancy. The A-Team didn’t leave any doubts about their gold medal ambitions and closed the match in two straight sets (21:15, 21:16). April Ross’ jump serves and Alix Klineman’s blocking secured the win in 44 minutes. April Ross addressing all her fans after the gold medal win: “Thank you for all your support. We really felt you!” The bronze medal was claimed by Switzerland’s Anouk Vergé-Dépr ..read more

Gold medal favorites Alix Klineman and April Ross will play the gold medal match at the Tokyo Olympics against Australia’s Artacho Del Solar/ Clancy. On Thursday morning, the US(A-) Team posted an easy win against Switerzland’s Anouk Vergé-Dépré/ Joana Heidrich. The A-Team presented themselves as upcoming Olympic champions and won in straight sets (21:12, 21:11) to reach Friday’s gold medal match. In the quarterfinals, the US team had eliminated reigning Olympic champion Laura Ludwig and Maggie Kozuch of Germany. In the second semifinal, Australia’s top team Artacho Del Solar/ Clancy defeated ..read more

It was a rough first week at the Olympic beach volleyball event but now the round of 16 parings are complete. After America’s top team Jake Gibb/ Taylor Crabb had to replace Crabb by Tri Bourne, Czech team Marketa Slukova/ Barbora Hermannova could not start at all and their Czech compatriots Perusic/ Schweiner could not compete in their first match, hopes are high that the overly strict Covid regulations do not further impact the competition at Shiokaze Park in Tokyo. On the women’s side, one of the most exciting matchups brings together US team Claes/Sponcil who is going up against Canada’s b ..read more

It was the closest they got to elimination. In the third set, Anders Mol and Christian Sorum faced an 11:12 deficit against Brazil’s Alison and Alvaro Filho. But a few blocks by Anders Mol resolved the situation. The Beachvolleyvikings advanced to the final (21:8, 18:21, 15:12) where they will play Qatar’s Cherif Samba and Ahmed Tijan, just as in the previous event. Before the semifinal against Brazil, the Norwegians had posted wins against Cardenas/ Espinoza of Mexico, Dutchmen Varenhorst/ Van de Velde, US team Tri Bourne and Trevor Crabb and Poland’s Kantor/ Losiak. In total, Mol/ Sorum lost ..read more

Some of the men’s top teams had a rather rough start into the main draw of the second Cancun Hub event in Mexico. While reigning FIVB world champions Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Oleg Stoyanovskiy of Russia could prevent an early goodbye in the last minute, US top team Taylor Crabb/ Jake Gibb and Brazil’s Evandro/ Bruno Schmidt were eliminated after two initial losses. The Americans lost their first match against strong Polish team Rudol/ Szalankiewicz in straight sets (14:21, 19:21). In a close “win-or-go-home” match, Crabb/Gibb were also defeated by Rio sliver medalists Lupo/ Nicolai of Italy. Aft ..read more

In their first international tournament together after an extended Covid and injury break, Norwegian Vikings Anders Mol and Christian Sorum are back in the beach volleyball world elite. In Tuesday’s final at the FIVB 4-star event in Cancun (Mexico), the Beachvolleyvikings will face Cherif Samba and Ahmed Tijan. The Qataris beat Austria’s Martin Ermacora and Moritz Pristauz-Telsnigg in the second semifinal. Anders Mol was recently sidelined due to a hip injury but came back in good shape with his partner Christian Sorum at the first of three 4-star events in Cancun. After beating US legends Phi ..read more

After the first day of the Doha 4-star main draw, several top teams are facing an early goodbye in today’s second pool matches. US veterans Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena will need to go up against Austria’s Huber/ Dressler in a “win-or-go-home” match. They are facing early elimination after losing their first main draw match in a nail-biter against French team Aye/Gauthier-Rat in the tie-break overtime (17:21, 24:22, 23:25). In a similar situation is Polish top team Piotr Kantor and Bartosz Losiak who lost their first match to 2017 world champion Evandro and his partner Guto of Brazil. Doha ..read more

After a one-year break, it is the return of the international beach volleyball elite at Doha in Qatar. Last year’s Katara Beach Volleyball Cup was the last big event. Then Covid came. Then a long break. But now the action and the excitement is back. And after all, 2021 will be an Olympic year… Having hosted eight men-only FIVB World Tour events, now Doha hosts a double-gender tournament. And the entire world elite is there. Eight of the top 10 women’s and nine of the top 10 men’s teams. Except for Norway’s Anders Mol, presumably the world’s best beach volleyball player in the last two years. H ..read more

This week’s CEV European Championships will be hosted by Jurmala, a lovely seaside resort in Latvia. We digged a bit deeper to find out more about Jurmala, the heart of Latvian beach volleyball… Jurmala is the largest resort town on the coast of the Baltic Sea with an advantageous geographical location – just over ten kilometers from the center of Riga, the capital of Latvia. The presence of the sea, 24 kilometers of white sandy beach and romantic wooden architecture give the city an inimitable aura. Jurmala has a long history of major beach volleyball events Latvia’s first beach volleyball co ..read more

Our reader Nik is addicted to beach volleyball. He works as a volleyball coach and instructor teaching other coaches in Berlin. He has been coaching the Berlin Recycling Volleys, the successful and popular pro indoor team in Germany’s capital. He does also offer beach volleyball camps and in this inspiring post he tells us how he has reacted to the unreal Covid-19 craziness. Enter Nik… “Since 2005 we have been offering a beach volleyball camp on the wonderful island of Mallorca (Spain). This year was terrible, we were totally surprised when our plans for the camps in spring were all of a sudde ..read more