The Five Most Successful Men at the Major Series

The Beach Major Series has been raising the level of international beach volleyball for the last five seasons and during this time amazing stories have been written, fantastic victories have been celebrated, beautiful locations have been visited and new legends have been established.

A total of 390 male players from 52 different countries have competed in the Series already and from those just 43 had the honor of taking one of more medals home. It’s the absolute elite of the sport.

By using this data, we tried to determine who are the five most successful men to ever set foot in a Beach Major Series event. It was a tough task and, honestly, several others could have been included in this list, but here are our picks, in no specific order.

Anders Mol

It’s not that much of a surprise that the list starts with the blocking half of the Beach Volley Vikings duo, is it? Anders’ run with Christian Sørum in the last two years has been nothing short of spectacular and led the team to win six medals, including a Series record five golds with back-to-back titles in Gstaad and Vienna. One of the best all-around players in the World Tour, Anders didn’t need a lot of time to earn his place in the list as he accomplished these results in just 11 tournaments, meaning he won nearly half of the Beach Major Series events he played at. His fantastic winning rate is the highest among all the men to ever compete in the Series at 82.26%.

Christian Sørum

The Norwegian defender shares the honors of leading the gold medals count among the men with Anders and he’s equally responsible for their outstanding run as his ice-cold side out game has taken the Vikings to glory in several events. The duo has stood in the podium in all of the last six Beach Major Series events, five of these times at the highest spot. A cerebral defender that floats in the sand, Christian started his journey in the Series a little earlier than Anders, but like his partner he has a very respectable winning ratio at 77.94%, the second-best among the men.

Evandro Gonçalves

The towering Brazilian holds the record for the most podium appearances among the men as he’s been in the top-three in eight of the 19 Beach Major Series events he played at. The best server in the world has collected three gold, three silver and two bronze medals with three different partners and has medaled in four of the event’s five seasons in a statement of his competitiveness. He was the protagonist of one of the most fantastic moments of the Beach Major Series when Andre Loyola and him defeated Clemens Doppler and Alexander Horst to win the 2017 World Championships in Vienna in front of a fanatic Austrian crowd.

Nick Lucena

No player has won more matches in the Beach Major Series than Nick “The Quick” Lucena. The veteran American defender has won 83 of his 111 games as he competed in 19 of the 21 Beach Major Series events either with Theo Brunner or Phil Dalhausser. The Rio 2016 Olympian’s impressive 74.77% winning rate, the third-best in the Series, is bolstered by his ridiculously consistent side out game, which comes handy when our partner a legend of the sport as Phil. With his longtime partner and friend, Nick has collected amazing seven medals, including four golds, the second-most for male athletes in the Major events.

Phil Dalhausser

If there’s one player who has been a dominant force in the World Tour for nearly 15 years, it’s Phil Dalhausser. And the Thin Beast has carried his outstanding success to the Beach Major Series as alongside Nick he managed to win seven medals and four golds between 2015 and 2018. The Beijing 2008 Olympic champion is one of the most complete players the sport has ever seen and one of the few who are able to perfectly execute the most diverse skills, such as setting and blocking, and take over matches in the blink of an eye. The American legend has won 68 of his 92 matches in the event, securing a 73.91% winning ratio.