The excellent form that took Nina Brunner and Tanja Hüberli to the podium at the Paris Olympics two weeks ago continues and led the Swiss duo to triumph at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Hamburg Elite16 in a spectacular way on Sunday.

• Watch Beach Pro Tour Hamburg Elite16 replays and highlights on VBTV

The Olympic bronze medalists showed tremendous resilience and focus to beat the home team of Svenja Müller and Cinja Tillmann, which was pushed by thousands of German fans who created a fantastic atmosphere at the Am Rothenbaum Stadium, 2-1 (21-18, 18-21, 18-16) in the gold medal match. Brazilians Victoria Lopes and Thamela Coradello also made it to the podium in Hamburg in third place.

The team’s blocker, Hüberli came up big for the Swiss in the final moments of the tie-breaker, getting a block to avoid a German match point at 15-14 and going on to score consecutive hitting points, including the game-winner.

“My side out was a little hesitating, but when I got the block to save their match point, it just gave me so much confidence,” Hüberli commented. “After that point, I wasn’t overthinking anything. When the free ball came for the last point, I just wanted to play it quick and it worked out pretty well.”

Beach Pro Tour Hamburg Elite16 – Results

The victory was just the second in the career of the Swiss on the Beach Pro Tour as they claimed their first international gold just four months ago, at the Tepic Elite16, after nine years of partnership. In 2024, besides the Olympic bronze, the two also made it to the podium at the Espinho Elite16, in May, where they claimed silver.

“That Tepic victory was huge, it feels like we needed it,” Brunner recalled. “We waited a long time for it and had to fight really hard for it. After that, it feels like we have more stability and confidence in tight matches. We’re super happy that we managed to get another win here in Hamburg.”

Müller and Tillmann, who won gold at the European Championship last week and saw a 12-match winning streak come to an end in the gold medal match, couldn’t take Germany back to the top of the podium in Hamburg for the first time since 2017, but claimed their second medal in the season and got to play in back-to-back finals after they took gold at the Vienna Elite16, in July.

Thamela and Victoria win first medal

In the bronze medal match, 24-year-old Brazilians Thamela and Victoria made it to the podium in just the second tournament after they became partners, downing Italian Olympians Marta Menegatti and Valentina Gottardi 2-0 (21-19, 21-19).

It was also the first Elite16 medal won by Victoria and the second for Thamela, who claimed gold in Cape Town in 2022 with veteran Talita Antunes.

“This is just our second tournament together and to win a medal here, it’s really incredible,” Victoria remarked. “We’re very, very happy and this result will give us the motivation to go back home and continue working for the remainder of the season.”

Players will now have almost two months to recover from the demanding last few weeks and prepare for the last two Elite16 events of the season, which will both be held in Brazil, with João Pessoa hosting matches from October 16-20 and Rio de Janeiro welcoming a tournament from November 6-10.

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