Norwegians go from teammates to rivals at #EuroBeachVolley
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Just a few days ago, Anders Mol, Christian Sørum, Hendrik Mol and Mathias Berntsen joined forces to make of Norway the first men’s champions of the A1 CEV BeachVolley Nations Cup in Vienna. But next week, the Beach Volley Vikings will be on opposite sides when the CEV EuroBeachVolley 2022 begins in Munich.
Mol and Sørum, the four-time defending champions, and Hendrik and Berntsen will be rivals right from the start in Munich as both teams are part of Pool A, which also features Swedish wonderkids David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig and Israelis Netanel Ohana and Eylon Elazar, the first athletes to represent their country at the #EuroBeachVolley.
The Norwegians are not only compatriots, but also very good friends as they practice and travel the world together and the perfect solution for an eventual matchup, which would be the first in their careers at the international level, is already drawn out. If both teams win their opening matches on August 16 – the Olympic champions play the Israelis while Hendrik and Berntsen face the Swedish -, they will enter the pool final already guaranteed in the elimination round.
Christian Sørum“Every match at the EuroBeachVolley is important and we hope we can win our opening match against Israel. We are on a strong pool and to play a pool final with Mathias and Hendrik would be a dream for us. We always have a lot of fun at the EuroBeachVolley and we’re looking forward to it.”
Norwegian Beach Volleyball Player
The Norwegians, like many other beach volleyball athletes, associate having fun with winning matches and medals and, in that aspect, there’s simply no way the 25-year-old Mol and the 26-yar-old Sørum aren’t happy with their form.
Following their victory last week in Vienna, the Vikings have now won at least once every major international tournament they played at and have now topped the podium together in 22 events, including the last four editions of the #EuroBeachVolley.
So, their goals for Munich will be pretty simple – they just want to continue having reasons to smile.
Anders Mol“We have a lot of fun in playing beach volleyball and I think that’s the reason why we keep winning. We just try to enjoy the moment. Beach volleyball is the best sport in the world and it’s even more fun when we win, so we always try our best to make it happen. We’re really hungry to continue winning and to get more attention to the sport in Norway. We hope our success help us have a big event in Norway so we can play in front of our fans, that’s a big motivation for us right now.”
Norwegian Beach Volleyball Player
While they’re determined to extend their domination at the #EuroBeachVolley with an unprecedented fifth-straight title, which would make of them the only players, men or women, to have five continental gold medals, Mol and Sørum also want to enjoy the unique experience they will have in Munich.
With the event being part of the European Championships Munich, the reigning Olympic and world champions will be a part of the Norwegian delegation that will include athletes from as many as eight other sports.
Christian Sørum“It’s going to be really cool to have more sports on the same event. We saw that the Commonwealth Games did it and I’m really looking forward to having it on the European Championships too. Norway has a lot of good athletes in other sports and hopefully we can go and watch them. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Norwegian Beach Volleyball Player
It certainly will. And especially, for them, if they win again.