German golden girls eyeing more glory

• Facebook
• Twitter

Kira (left) and Laura have swept all before them on the sand this season. Photocredit: Sebastian Marko.

The women on the FIVB World Tour should be afraid. Very afraid.

Swatch World Tour Finals heroes and Olympic champions Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst are sticking together for four more years – and want to fill their trophy cabinets with even more gold medals!

Beach volleyball has seen its fair share of splits over the past couple of weeks – it began with Canadians Pavan/Bansley and has continued following the retirement of Swiss stars Nadine Zumkehr and Isabelle Forrer and German trio Ilka Semmler, Katrin Holtwick and Britta Büthe.

But following the completion of their record-breaking and simply magnificent golden season, Laura and Kira will carry on their partnership next year and beyond as they eye back-to-back Olympic titles in Tokyo in 2020.

There aren’t many tournaments that are missing off their golden hit list after a summer which has seen them secure Olympic, Swatch World Tour Finals, national and European glory – not to mention the A1 Major Klagenfurt, smart Major Hamburg and the Olsztyn Grand Slam.

But one prize still remains out of reach – the World Championships, which in 2017 will take place in Vienna. That’s one title Kira is certainly desperate to grab, as she told us in Toronto. The pair want to avenge their disappointing 17th place in the Netherlands in 2015.

However, four more years on the sand will give them a crack at defending their Olympic title in Tokyo – and who would bet against them following in the footsteps of three-time Olympic champions Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings?