Stoyanovskiy: Silver medal is like a dream, but now we are focused on #EuroBeachVolley
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The reigning world champions Oleg Stoyanovskiy and Viacheslav Krasilnikov achieved a historic result for their country only a few days ago in Tokyo, winning first Olympic medal ever in Beach Volleyball for Russia. However, only five days after the Olympic final, they start their quest for another medal, this time at the EuroBeachVolley 2021 in Vienna, hoping to meet with Christian Sorum and Anders Mol again on the sand in capital city of Austria.
The EuroBeachVolley 2021 in Vienna is a truly unique event, especially in the pandemic times, as players from all around Europe are loudly cheered by the fans in the stands, what is extremely appreciated by all competitors. Back in 2016, Russian super duo Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovskiy earned their first medal from the world championships (bronze), exactly in the same location - in Vienna. "It's amazing to come back and play in Vienna, because it's one of our favourite tournaments, as audience support everybody and atmosphere is so cool. Especially we are happy to come back here after winning silver in Tokyo and it's unbelievable," said Stoyanovskiy after winning their first game against Estonians Nõlvak/Tiisaar after nail-biting second set which ended in extra time (28-26!).
Stoyanovskiy/Krasilnikov successfully wrote another chapter in history of the Russian Beach Volleyball, but first of all by winning silver medals in Tokyo, they made their Olympic dream coming true.
Oleg Stoyanovskiy"It means everything to us. It's like a dream. I think that any medal won at the Olympic Games, especially first in history is something that made you speechless. We will have time to celebrate it, but now we are focused on the European Championships."
In their impressive medal showcase they have already two silver medals won at the European Championships, one won in 2016 in Biel and the second claimed last year in Jurmala, the gold is still missing there, but they main goal, so far, for this tournament is to keep improving their game. "Our goal is just to play every game better and better, because we have struggled with jetlag and time difference and of course we are tired after three weeks in Tokyo we tried to overcome all circumstances on our way and try to improve the game from match to match."
At the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in the gold medal match they lost to their long-time rivals Norwegians Mol/Sorum, exactly the same like one year ago at EuroBeachVolley in Jurmala. Will we see a revenge in Vienna?
Oleg Stoyanovskiy"We have already won with them three times. If we are in good shape we can beat them, so let's see what will happen in the next matches. They are a great team and it's always fun to play against them, especially in the final!"