Beach Volleyball 2022 Discussion Thread

[phelps 6,848]

finally! our lucky venue brought us a new gold in the top tier world tour, the first one after 2016 (in Sochi, thanks to Nicolai & Lupo in their magic season when they also won the Olympic Silver medal in Rio)...

[Jinzha 529]

European Championships U22 in  Vlissingen:

 

Women:

1.  Alvarez/Moreno

2.  Windeleff/Bisgaard

3.  Khmil/Lazarenko

 

Men:

1.  Ahman/Nilsson

2.  Fokerots/Rinkevics

3.  Hammarberg/Grossig

 

 

[Jinzha 529]

 Gstaad, Suisse Elite tournament

 

Women:

1.  Duda/Ana Patricia

2.  Barbara/Carol

3.  Clancy/Mariafe

 

Men:

1.  Grimalt/Grimalt

2.  Perusic/Schweiner

3.  Varenhorst/Van de Velde

 

Another impressive result by the Chilean cousins, they've stood out to me in the results for a while now. They might be medal contenders in 2024, which I doubt Chile has many. Meanwhile on the womens side Duda/Ana Patricia is finally living up to their potential.

[Jinzha 529]

I got a little behind on the beach volleyball tournaments:

 

 Espinho, Portugal Challenge tournament (14-17 July)

 

Women:

1.  Clancy/Mariafe

2.  Quiggle/Schermerhorn

3.  Andressa/Vitoria

 

Men:

1.  Bryl/Losiak

2.  Ermacora/Pristauz

3.  Samoilovs/Smedins

 

 Agadir, Morocco Challenge tournament (21-24 July)

 

Women:

1.  Piersma/Van Driel

2.  Hermannova/Stochlova

3.  Menegatti/Gottardi

 

Men:

1.  Immers/Boermans

2.  Berntzen/Mol

3.  Krattiger/Beer

 

 

Both tournaments had fairly weak fields, mostly the Moroccon one. Next Beach Pro Tour event is the  Hamburg, Germany Elite tournament (10-14 August). The pro tour (something like world cups) keep going all the way into november with trips to South Africa, Brazil and Australia still coming up.

 

Currently ongoing is a European 'Nations cup' where two teams per country face off against each other, sort of like the Olympic qualification tournaments.

[Jinzha 529]

A1 CEV Nations Cup 2022

 

Women:

1.  Switzerland

2.  Germany

3.  Latvia

 

Men:

1.  Norway

2.  Italy

3.  Netherlands
 

This nations cup is another new tournament format, but most nations did send their strongest teams. Although on the Dutch womens team Stam/Schoon chose to play national tournaments at home instead. With them present our womens team should've been a medal contender as well.

[Werloc 3,127]

Disappointing end to the European Championships for Paulikienė and Kliokmanaitė with two 2:1 defeats.

 

I'm hoping that Dumbauskaitė and Grudzinskaitė can survive later today, since they took a set off of world nr. 2 yesterday. 

[Werloc 3,127]

After having a close fight against world nr. 2, Dumbauskaitė and Grudzinskaitė barely held on and managed to beat a much weaker Ukranian pair.

 

Top 24 secured, but I think that's the end of it for us in these championships. 

[canadafan2024 106]

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch4yMmfMOcN/

 

Sarah/Melissa splitting up 

[Jinzha 529]

 Paris, France Elite 16 tournament

 

Women:

1.  Stam/Schoon

2.  Graudina/Samoilova

3.  Duda/Ana Patricia

 

Men:

1.  Mol/Sorum

2.  Brouwer/Meeuwsen

3.  Nicolai/Cottafava

 

 

Happy to see Stam/Schoon take another tournament with some convincing wins on their way! And it's crazy to see Brouwer/Meeuwsen are still among the best teams after all these years.

[Jinzha 529]

 Maldives Challenge tournament

 

Women:

1.  Lahti/Ahtiainen

2.  Schützenhöfer/Plesiutschnig

3.  Parkkinen/Sinisalo

 

Men:

1.  Cherif/Ahmed

2.  Field/Budinger

3.  Ahman/Hellvig

 

The Beach Pro Tour continues pretty much all year, with various tournaments on the southern hemisphere (and in desert climates like Dubai and Cairo) now that summer has ended for most of us. They have also announced a Finals tournament 26-29 January in Doha, Qatar. I wonder what the athletes think of this year-round schedule of tournaments literally all over the world.

 

Either way, the field for this particular challenge tournament wasn't very strong and I doubt we'll see many top contenders in the next two tournaments in Dubai either.