2019-07-19 01:16:00 CEST
The week in the sands of the world
Lupo and Nicolai are among the contenders in Espinho
The weeks following the World Championships and the Gstaad Major are tough, we get it… After witnessing all the top teams in the world battling for arguably the two most important medals of the entire season, we have to settle for “regular” World Tour events again.
Following beach volleyball is always fun, though, and a good thing about this week is that there are a four and a three-star events being played in different continents, which means you can follow both at the same time if you don’t need many hours of sleep.
Here’s all you need to know about them and more:
Beach volleyball elite in Portugal
While some of the top teams in the world took the week off to prepare for the upcoming A1 Major Vienna, most of the ones who are active are in Espinho, Portugal, where a four-star event is taking place. Among the teams competing at the deep sands of the Portuguese coast are Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk/Duda Lisboa, Czech Republic’s Barbora Hermannova/Marketa Sluková, Italy’s Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai and USA’s Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena.
Canada returns to the tour
Canada is back to the international calendar for the first time since Toronto hosted the 2016 World Tour Finals as the city of Edmonton is staging a three-star event. Recently-crowned world champions Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes are playing in front of their home fans for the first time after their title. London 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Juliana Felisberta of Brazil is also in contention with partner Josi Alves.
Sarah Pavan and her teammate Melissa Humana-Paredes are playing on their home sand for the first time since they won the World Championships
Hyden and Doherty split
American veterans John Hyden and Ryan Doherty are playing together this week in Edmonton, but their partnership, which was given a second shot at the start of the season, isn’t going to last any longer as the two have decided to split. Hyden will play next week’s American AVP event with Piotr Marciniak while Doherty will now team up with Miles Evans, who is partnering Billy Kolinske in Canada.
After a second attempt, Hyden and Doherty are going separate ways again
Social Media: The Old Vikings
If you were anywhere near social media these past two weeks you probably saw several photos of people in which they look considerably older than they actually are. The Beach Volley Vikings followed the trend and, boy, they look amazing!
In case you missed it
Silver medalists from Gstaad to play in Vienna qualifier
See you next week!