One month after the end of the Gstaad Elite event, some of the top beach volleyball teams on the planet are ready to return to action on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour this week, when the Austrian city of Baden hosts a Challenge tournament.

After welcoming Futures events in the last three seasons, Baden was now upgraded to the Challenge level and will get to enjoy as many as six days of action, with matches taking place at the Thermalstrandbad Baden from Tuesday to Sunday.

• Watch Beach Pro Tour Baden Challenge live on VBTV

The women will get on the sand first in Austria, with the qualifier scheduled for Tuesday. Pool play will extend from Wednesday to Thursday, when the Round of 24 matches will also be held. The Round of 16 and the quarterfinals will take place on Friday, with the semifinals and medal matches happening on Saturday. The men will follow a similar schedule between Wednesday and Sunday.

The Ronja sisters Dorina and Ronja represent Austria’s biggest hopes of seeing a home team in the women’s podium on Saturday. The top-seeded team in the Baden Challenge, they have been in contention at the Elite level, having finished fourth in Ostrava and ranked fifth in a pair of other events, but are yet to win a medal in the 2025 season.

Ukrainian up-and-comers Maryna Hladun and Tetiana Lazarenko get to Baden in excellent form after triumphing at the European Championship last Sunday in Düsseldorf. The two have also enjoyed success on the Beach Pro Tour in 2025, having won gold in the most recent Challenge event, held in Stare Jablonki, in June.

Beach Pro Tour Baden Challenge – Women’s Entry List

The women’s event in Baden will also feature two Olympic medalists, who both have new partners in the 2025 season – Swiss Tanja Hüberli, who won bronze in Paris 2024 and now plays with Leona Kernen, and Australian Taliqua Clancy, who took silver in Tokyo and has Jana Milutinovic by her side in the current season.

Ehlers and Wickler lead the men’s field

On the men’s side, Paris Olympic silver medalists Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler of Germany are the most accomplished team set to compete in Baden this week. The Europeans had somewhat of a slow start to their 2025 season but have made consistent progress and got very close to making their first podium appearance in the year in Gstaad one month ago, when they finished fifth.

Reigning U22 European champions Jacob Hölting Nilsson and Elmer Andersson of Sweden will try to keep their good form this week in Austria. The two had an incredible campaign at the Gstaad Elite, going from the qualifier to win silver, and will try and accumulate more points this week.

Beach Pro Tour Baden Challenge – Women’s Entry List

The Baden Challenge will also mark the return of Spanish legend Adrián Gavira to the Beach Pro Tour. The 37-year-old, four-time Olympian was set to start the season with Alejandro Huerta after longtime partner Pablo Herrera retired, but had some injuries keeping him off the sand. The two made their team debut at the European Championship last week and will now be tested on the Beach Pro Tour.

Hosts Austria will have four teams starting the tournament in the main draw – Christoph Dressler/Philipp Waller, Tim Berger/Timo Hammarberg, Julian Hörl/Moritz Pristauz and Lorenz Petutschnig/Alexander Horst.

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