Anders Mol and Christian Sørum took Norway to a World Tour final for the first time in eight years

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Anders Mol and Christian Sørum won their first medal together in Brazil (Photocredit: FIVB)

The Beach Volleyball Vikings keep raising the Norwegian flag in the World Tour. After two teams took the country to the semifinals again after six years last season in Portugal, Anders Mol and Christian Sørum took another step forward as they won the silver medal in the four-star event in Itapema, Brazil, last weekend.

It was the first time Norway competed in a World Tour final since Tarjei Skarlund and Martin Spinnangr won silver in the home soil of Stavanger in 2010. The accomplishment of the 22-year-old Sørum and the 20-year-old Mol was the highlight of the Brazilian tournament.

“It was amazing,” Mol, who received the World Tour Rookie of the Year award in 2017, said. “It couldn’t have been better. It was a huge experience to go through in Brazil for the first time.”

Sølv smaker bra 🥈 #vikingsontour #onlythebeginning

941 Likes, 10 Comments - Beach Volley Vikings (@beachvolleyvikings) on Instagram: "Sølv smaker bra 🥈 #vikingsontour #onlythebeginning"

The tournament in Brazil indeed developed into a real test for the Norwegians’ nerves as they were thrown in a packed center court not once, but twice to play against local teams in medal matches.

In the semifinals, Mol and Sørum prevailed over Guto Carvalhaes and Vitor Felipe, but world champions Evandro Goncalves and Andre Loyola were just too much for them in the gold medal match on Sunday.

“It was two Norwegian guys playing against thousands of Brazilians,” Mol added. “They were cheering for every point and when we got a point it was totally silent. We just had to get into our own bubble and not think about it at all.”

The silver medal won in Brazil was the best result for the young players so far in the World Tour. Playing together since last year, Sørum, a two-time Youth European champion, a Mol, a bronze medalist in the two-star event in Portugal last year, have registered a pair of fifth-place finishes in the Hague and Xiamen earlier in the season.

💥 SILVER IT IS!! 🥈🎉😍 . What just happened!? 🙈 Thank you so much to everyone who followed us through this tournament, this is only the beginning 🤩 Had so much fun playing here in Itapema, amazing experience! . . #trusttheprocess #onlythebeginning #silver #voleidepraia #beachvolleyvikings #vikingsontour #vikings #BeachVolleyball

1,592 Likes, 90 Comments - Anders Mol (@andybmol) on Instagram: "💥 SILVER IT IS!! 🥈🎉😍 . What just happened!? 🙈 Thank you so much to everyone who followed us..."

For them, after the first medal together, the dream of winning many more in the World Tour seems to be in reach.

“This was our goal for the season, to grab a medal in a Beach Major Series event or a four-star,” Sørum commented. “As we already did it once, now we know what it’s like and we’ll be better prepared when we are in that same spot again.”

Congratulations, guys!