Familiar faces stand tall on the podium

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Larissa/Talita all smiles - again! Photocredit: Mihai Stetcu

Swatch Major Series legends Larissa/Talita and Lucena/Dalhausser stormed to success in Moscow by clinching gold at the three-star event last weekend.

Brilliant Brazilians Larissa/Talita continued their rich vein of form this season by following up their Fort Lauderdale gold with yet another first place finish. The duo were far too good for Americans Sweat/Summer in the final, winning in straight sets 21-16, 21-14, to record their 15th World Tour title of their glorious, golden partnership together. 

And they weren’t the only Brazilians on the podium either, as Agatha/Duda – who lost to Larissa/Talita in the Fort Lauderdale Major final – beat Germans Bieneck/Schneider in straight sets in the battle for bronze. For the silver medalists from the States, they can once again take satisfcation from another top tournament which saw them oust Olympic champions Ludwig/Walkenhorst on their way to the podium.

In the men’s competition, Americans Lucena/Dalhausser saw off stiff competition from the home nation’s best to seal their first gold on the World Tour since the smart Major Hamburg. After securing bronze at the Fort Lauderdale Major, the pair had to dig deep in both the semifinal against Russians Stoyanovskiy/Yarzutkin and in the gold medal match with Krasilnikov/Liamin.

Despite the defeat for the Russians, the hosts still had plenty to smile about as Stoyanovskiy/Yarzutkin’s victory in the bronze medal match over Latvians Samoilovs/Smedins - who earlier in the tournanment knocked out Olympic champions Alison/Bruno - meant two of the three medals belonged to Russia.

It’s now less than three weeks until the Poreč Major, the second five-star event of the beach volleyball season. You can find out all you need to know about the tournament on our Poreč Major microsite and Facebook event page.