The Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite16 event held in Gstaad, Switzerland,  this week started and ended in the same way for Andy Benesh and Miles Partain – with an incredible victory over Olympic and world champions Anders Mol and Christian Sørum.

If Thursday’s win was only good enough to help them finish first in Pool A, Sunday’s triumph against the Norwegians gave the Americans their first title in an Elite16 tournament and a fairytale ending to their first trip to the Swiss Alps. Brazilians Andre Loyola and George Wanderley took bronze.

• Watch the Beach Pro Tour Gstaad Elite16 live on VBTV

Just like Thursday’s encounter, the Americans dropped the first set of the gold medal match, but had the power to come back and nerves of steel to avoid multiple Norwegian match points in the tie-breaker and secure a 2-1 (15-21, 21-11, 18-16) victory and the title.

“It’s a dream come true,” Partain commented. “This was really not expected, so I’m really thankful for everything. To win here, in this beautiful place, in front of these amazing fans, it’s amazing.”

The victory also made of the Americans just the second team to overcome the reigning Olympic and world champions Mol and Sørum twice in the same tournament – Dutch Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen were the first to do it, in the Rosarito Elite16, in 2022.

Partners for the last nine months, Benesh, 28, and Partain, 21, are one of the fastest-rising teams in the international beach volleyball scene. The Americans have won three medals in seven Beach Pro Tour events, with the Gstaad title joining another gold at last year’s Dubai Challenge and a bronze at the Ostrava Elite16, just a few weeks ago.

“It’s beautiful to play here in the mountains,” Benesh reacted. “It’s beautiful weather, I’m glad we got a really sunny day today. It’s really been a dream come true for us.”

Beach Pro Tour Gstaad Elite16 – Results

Brazilians Andre and George claimed bronze, earning their first Gstaad cowbells, after Polish blocker Michal Bryl sustained a foot injury halfway through the second set of the bronze medal match and couldn’t continue playing alongside partner Bartosz Łosiak.

It was the third medal won by the South Americans in the 2023 Beach Pro Tour season and the first in an Elite16 event – Andre and George took gold at the Itapema Challenge and silver at the Jurmala Challenge.

From Gstaad, the Beach Pro Tour heads to the Portuguese coast as the city of Espinho is set to host the next Challenge tournament of the season next week, from July 13-16.

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