Despite a lot of tension, the same mischievous winner's smile can be seen in the men's competition from the top of the podium at the end. Once again the winners are Anders Mol and Christian Sørum. As in the finals the week before, the two remained undefeated during the whole tournament and were able to win the next tournament title with a sovereign 2-set victory (21:19,21:19) against the young Swedes Åhman/Hellvig.
So the new season starts as it ended with a victory of Mol/Sørum.
Already in the pool matches there was the eagerly awaited clash between the young stars Åhman/Hellvig and the two superstars Mol/Sørum from Norway. Many are already talking about the new "El Classico" of beach volleyball.
During the pool match, one could even guess that this encounter would have the character of a final. After a furious start of the young Swedes, in the end the world champions from Norway could prevail with a tight 3-set victory (15:21, 21:18, 15:13). There was a reunion in the final.
The reunited Italian team Carambula/Ranghieri – after their strong performance at the finals – proved once again with a strong 3rd place that this duo is a force to be reckoned with in the 2023 season.
Especially Ranghieri is not only top scorer but also the best blocker of the tournament.
All the news about the newly formed men's teams can be found here.
However the extreme density of world class teams that currently prevails in men's beach volleyball is particularly notable.
There were 3 teams from the qualification in the quarter finals and with Ranghieri/Carambula even a team from the qualification made it to the podium with their third place. One gets the feeling – with the exception of the two superstars from Norway – that every team on the tour could beat each other at the moment, which promises extreme excitement for the rest of the season.
We are curious to see how the season continues, whether the dominance of the two Norwegians Mol/Sørum will persist or whether it can be broken through, for example by the Swedish young stars at the A1 CEV European Beach Volleyball Championships.
Fire away for the 2023 season and the battle for Olympic qualification and qualification for the A1 CEV EuroBeachVolley 2023. We are already looking forward to the next tournaments and are excited to see which teams we can welcome in Vienna. One thing can already be said: Europe is on fire!
Disappointing performance of the Austrians
While the Klinger Sisters had to admit defeat to Taiana Lima/Hegeile early in the qualification after a courageous fight, the earlier exit in the qualification of Rob Seidl and Phil Waller was surprising.
However, the season is still young and we are confident that the red-white-red teams will roll up the field from behind at the next tournaments and will be in absolute top form at the home European Championships from August 2 to 6 on Vienna's Danube Island.
