Mouth-watering duels emerge from EuroBeachVolley Drawing of Lots

As many as 10 of the top 15 men’s teams from the current FIVB World Ranking – and five of the women’s top 15 will contest the 2023 edition of CEV EuroBeachVolley which is due to run from August 2-6 in Vienna, Austria. With only a month and a half to the start of the competition, 32 teams per gender were drawn across eight pools on Wednesday late afternoon to set the tone for a majestic Beach Volleyball party on Danube Island, where the continental championship will be taking place for the first time later this summer.

Last year, when Beach Volleyball featured prominently at the highly successful multi-sport European Championships Munich 2022, Sweden’s young aces David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig caused a sensation by seizing the continental title. They will start the defence of their title in a pool featuring French youngsters and sensation Artur Canet and Téo Rotar, who are both only 19 years old, as well as Dutchmen Christiaan Varenhorst/Leon Luini and Estonia’s Kusti Nõlvak/Mart Tiisaar, who were fifth at last year’s World Championships in Rome.

Norway’s Beach Volleyball Vikings Anders Mol/Christian Sørum will be vying for their fifth European title after sweeping four in a row before losing to the Swedes last year in the semis and finishing third in Munich. Interestingly, their pool includes the members of the very same camp / family, Hendrik Mol and Mathias Berntsen, who are Anders’s elder brother and cousin, drawn in Pool A as well. The entries include a number of former European champions – with Italy’s Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo, three-time gold medal winners, now playing along with Samuele Cottafava and Enrico Rossi, respectively, drawn in the same group – Pool B.

There are as many as five teams representing Austria in the men’s competition, with veteran Alexander Horst and his partner Julian Hörl the highest seeded duo heading Pool H where they are due to take on Spanish evergreens and former European champions Pablo Herrera and Adrian Gavira. Overall, with teams from 16 nations, there is an interesting combo of young and more experienced teams, including those that have shaped European Beach Volleyball for the past 10 years or even further back.

In the women’s tournament, Latvia’s Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova (formerly known as Kravcenoka) will be vying for their third EuroBeachVolley crown after topping the final standing in Moscow in 2019 and last year in Munich as well. Their pool includes the likes of Czechia’s Marketa Slukova, who is back from injury and maternity leave, and former indoor star Helena Havelkova. Germany has always been a major force to reckon with and will be represented by as many as four teams – with former European, World and Olympic champion Laura Ludwig returning to the competition after the birth of her second child, this time in tandem with Louisa Lippmann.

You can count the Swiss teams as ambitious title contenders as well – with Tanja Hüberli/Nina Brunner hoping to repeat their success from the 2021 edition held in Vienna as well, whereas Anouk Vergé-Dépré and Joana Mäder (formerly Heidrich) won the title in 2020 in Latvia. Hosts Austria will not be able to count on their top team following the injury suffered by Lena Plesiutschnig earlier this season. Her partner Katharina Schützenhöfer will compete in Vienna along with Franziska Friedl, with the Klinger sisters, Dorina and Ronja, taking the spot for the highest seeded home team.

After completion of modified pool play, the competition will continue with the single elimination that will eventually crown this year’s EuroBeachVolley champions in front of what is expected to be a massive audience on Danube Island!

Pictures courtesy of Alex Foret / ACTS

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