Tokyo Olympic champions Anders Mol and Christian Sørum of Norway took gold for the third time in the 2024 Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour season and, according to their own words, in the most spectacular way in their careers on Sunday, with their victory at the João Pessoa Elite16.

The Beach Volley Vikings stood at the podium alongside Qatari Olympic medalists Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan, their opponents in a fantastic gold medal match, and reigning Olympic champions David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden, who took bronze.

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In the gold medal match, Mol and Sørum saw themselves down twice and were just two points away from having to settle for silver when Cherif and Ahmed built a 13-10 lead in the tie-breaker, but came back to win 2-1 (25-27, 21-17, 19-17) after almost seventy minutes of action.

“We just kept playing one ball at a time,” Sørum reflected. “We felt that we had a good chance to win the first set, but unfortunately we didn’t. We managed to win the second and then they had a good chance to win the third. With the windy conditions here, every point is very important because things can change really fast. We just kept playing our volleyball. It was such a great game and it’s always fun to play them.”

It was the 14^th duel between the teams and the tenth time that a tie-breaker was needed to determine the winners. The Norwegians, who came out on top for the 12^th time, highlighted the match played in João Pessoa as the most spectacular one they’ve ever been on.

“That’s the greatest final we’ve ever played,” Mol said after the match. “Qatar is such a strong team and we’ve had so many battles over the years, but this was by far the most intense and most spectacular match we’ve had against them.”

The victory in Brazil gave the Norwegians their third-straight title in 2024, following victories in Vienna in July and Hamburg in August – between the two, they claimed bronze at the Paris Olympics.

Beach Pro Tour João Pessoa Elite16 – Results

In the semifinals, Mol and Sørum defeated Åhman and Hellvig in another three-setter (22-20, 18-21, 15-10) to stop a streak of six consecutive international titles won by the Swedish in 2024 and keep them out of a gold medal match for the first time since last year’s Ostrava Elite16.

Åhman and Hellvig take bronze

Despite not being able to continue in their tournament-winning run in João Pessoa, Åhman and Hellvig didn’t return home empty-handed as the Swedish Olympic champions defeated the Argentinean Capogrosso brothers Nicolas and Tomas in the tie-breaker (19-21, 21-18, 15-11) to finish third.

It was the sixth medal won in as many Beach Pro Tour tournaments played by the Swedish so far in the season and the first bronze – they also won four golds and one silver. Åhman and Hellvig now have 20 medals in 40 Beach Pro Tour events (12 golds, four silver and four bronze).

The Beach Pro Tour will host another Elite16 event in Brazil in two weeks, with Rio de Janeiro welcoming the top teams on the planet from November 6-10.

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