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2016-01-08 10:25:00 CET

Valjas aiming to follow in brother’s Olympic footsteps

For Canadian beach volleyball star Kristina Valjas, 2016 offers the chance to continue a family tradition and become the second Olympian in her family.

Valjas /Broder at the Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals Photocredit: Andreas LangreiterValjas /Broder at the Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals Photocredit: Andreas Langreiter

The 28-year-old Valjas and her partner Jamie-Lynn Broder won their first medals on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour with gold at the Fuzhou Open and bronze at the Lucerne Open and have now begun to turn their attentions to qualifying for the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games. 

Currently they sit eighth in the Olympic Rankings, from which the top 17 will qualify and if they do make it to the tournament on Copacabana Beach she will follow in the footsteps of her brother Lenny Valjas who competed for Canada in cross-country skiing at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. 

“Eighth in the world is a great spot to be, but by no means are we a shoe-in. We have some work to do but we’re feeling very confident about it,” Valjas said.

“Being there (in Sochi) I got to see just how big of a world stage it is. The media attention was the biggest thing that I wasn’t really aware of, but every athlete is under a microscope, basically, and always wanted for interviews and it’s something we’re going to have to deal with and incorporate into our plan when we’re competing.”

Valjas and Broder’s gold in Fuzhou represented the first time that a Canadian pair had topped a World Tour podium.

They are now one of two Canadian teams in line to qualify for Rio 2016. Compatriots Heather Bansley and Sarah Pavan are fourth in the rankings after they won two silvers and two bronze in 2015. 

Valjas serving at the #SwatchWTFinalsUSA in Fort Lauderdale Photocredit: Joerg MitterValjas serving at the #SwatchWTFinalsUSA in Fort Lauderdale Photocredit: Joerg Mitter

“It was so exciting to be part of something that was historic because it was the first medal ever earned by Canadian women in beach volleyball,” Valjas said. “Not only that, it was gold. 

“To stand on top of the podium on international soil and to work hard towards something for so long and actually seize it for a moment – because definitely I want more where that came from – is very exciting and it’s just a testament to our hard work, and proving that we’re doing the right thing and heading in the right direction.”

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