A new team on the 2025 season of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour, Italians Valentina Gottardi and Reka Orsi Toth celebrated their first title as partners on Sunday, when they triumphed in the Elite event held in Hamburg.

The ecstatic Italians made it to the top of the podium at the Am Rothenbaum Stadium flanked by two Brazilian teams, as Thamela Coradello and Victoria Lopes ranked second and Duda Lisboa and Ana Patrícia Ramos were third in the seventh Elite event of the season.

• Watch Beach Pro Tour Hamburg Elite replays on VBTV

In order to win gold for the first time as teammates, the Italians had to play a tie-breaker for the second time in the week, lighting up after a first-set loss to overcome FIVB World Ranking leaders Thamela and Victoria 2-1 (17-21, 21-18, 15-6) in the gold medal match.

“It’s such an honor to play here,” Orsi Toth reacted. “When I was growing up, I used to watch my older sister (Tokyo Olympian Viktoria Orsi Toth) competing around the world and hope that one day I could play in a tournament like this. Winning gold here today is like a dream coming true.”

Since they became partners, in April, the Italians played in six Beach Pro Tour events and, ironically, their first victory came after the most frustrating of them, the Montréal Elite, where they dropped all three pool play matches without winning sets (one of them for Thamela and Victoria) and finished 13^th.

“The last tournament was very difficult for us because Reka was coming back from an injury,” Gottardi revealed. “But this week she showed the great player she is. I’m very proud of her for how she played here in Hamburg.”

The victory in Hamburg also marked the first gold for an Italian female team in an Elite event of the Beach Pro Tour. It was the team’s second medal, alongside a silver won at the Alanya Challenge in June.

Olympic champions keep Germany off the podium

Brazil had a second team on the podium in Hamburg after reigning Olympic champions Duda and Ana Patrícia denied home heroes Svenja Müller and Cinja Tillmann a medal by taking them down in straight sets (21-16, 21-18) in the dispute for bronze.

With that, the Brazilians, who had triumphed in Hamburg in the 2023 season, secured their third consecutive bronze medal on the Beach Pro Tour 2025, repeating the result they achieved in Brasília and Montréal.

“I’m very happy,” Ana Patrícia highlighted. “I think these medals show that we’re having a good journey this season despite many, many problems. We’ve been trying to do our best every day, and today we could play at our best. It’s always very special to play here in Hamburg.”

Beach Pro Tour Hamburg Elite – Match Schedule & Results

Brazil will be the next country to host a Beach Pro Tour Elite event this year, with the city of João Pessoa welcoming a tournament from September 17-21.

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