2019-08-11 21:08:00 CEST
Mol and Sørum are back-to-back European champions
Sørum and Mol pose with the trophy of their second consecutive European title (Photocredit: CEV)
Anders Mol and Christian Sørum have won their seventh gold medal in less than three months as the Norwegians became the fourth team to claim back-to-back titles of the European Championships at the Luzhniki complex, in Moscow, on Sunday.
The BeachVolley Vikings, who had also triumphed in the 2018 edition of the continental tournament in the Hague, kept the good run of form that saw them win both the Gstaad and the Vienna Majors and ousted the home team of Konstantin Semenov and Ilya Leshukov 21-12, 21-18 to clinch their second European title.
“Finals are always tough,” Mol commented. “To play a final against a Russian team in Russia is very special. We had a great match and it’s amazing to be back-to-back European champions. We really had to give it our all because they are really, really good players and it is never easy to play against them. We have huge respect for them. Standing here today with the gold medals means a lot.”
The Norwegians, who are the top-ranked team in the world for over a year, are undefeated in their last 26 matches and won the last four tournaments they played at.
Russia, Norway and Austria at the podium in Moscow (Photocredit: CEV)
Austria was also represented at the podium in Moscow as Martin Ermacora and Moritz Pristauz claimed the bronze medal after an ankle injury prevented Piotr Kantor from joining Polish partner Bartosz Losiak for the third-place match.
“This was the best tournament that we have done so far in our careers,” Pristauz reflected. “Of course, it is never nice when somebody is injured. That is really unfortunate for the Polish team. We are happy that we could reward ourselves with medals.”
World Tour champions in Hungary, Liechtenstein and Brazil
The weekend also featured World Tour one-star events in three different continents and European duos use the home court advantage to take five of the six medals in Budapest, Hungary, with Italy’s Samuele Cottafava/Jakob Windisch, Norway’s Daniel Bergerud/Lars Retterholt and Latvia’s Haralds Regza/Toms Smedins taking gold, silver and bronze in the men’s tournament and Japan’s Yurika Sakaguchi/Chiyo Suzuki, Russia’s Daria Mastikova/Polina Tsyganova and the Netherlands’ Raisa Schoon/Emi van Driel taking the same spots among the women.
Japanese women’s teams also did well in Vaduz, Liechtenstein, as the country took silver with Reika Murakami/Kaho Sakaguchi and bronze with Suzuka Hashimoto/Sayaka Mizoe while Dutch Emma Piersma/Pleun Ypma topped the podium. The men’s podium had Austria’s Moritz Kindl/Mathias Seiser at the top, flanked by Russia’s Anton Kislytsyn/Daniil Kuvichka and the Netherlands’ Jasper Bouter/Ruben Penninga.
Teams from the Netherlands and Austria took the gold medals in Vaduz (Photocredit: FIVB)
In Miguel Pereira, Brazil, the home teams won all six medals in play as the twins Renato and Rafael Lima won gold in the men’s tournament, followed by Adrielson dos Santos/Arthur Lanci and Hevaldo Moreira/Vinicius Rezende, while the women’s podium had Andressa Cavalcanti/Diana Silva, Val Leao/Vitoria de Souza and Juliana Felisberta/Josi Alves.
National Tour winners in Germany and Austria
At the national level, the German Tour had its seventh even of the season in Zinnowitz, which had the men’s tournament won by the Poniewaz twins Bennet and David. Sven Winter and Qatari Olympian Jefferson Pereira were second, followed by veterans Markus Bockermann and Max-Jonas Karpa. Among the women, Anna Behlen/Anne Krohn secured gold, Leonie Körtzinger/Sarah Schneider claimed silver and Leonie Klinke/Lisa-Sophie Kotzan won bronze.
The Austrian Tour also had an event this weekend in Wolfurt and the women’s tournament saw Czech Republic’s Karolina Rehackova/Sara Olivova take gold, Slovenia’s Tjasa Kotnik/Tjasa Jancar win silver and the home team of Katharina Almer/Julia Radl claim bronze. The men’s podium had the home teams of Jakob Reiter/Simon Baldauf and Michael Murauer/Simon Frühbauer finishing first and second and Swiss Quentin Métral/Florian Breer taking third.