David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig returned to the top of the podium for the first time since their victory at last year’s Paris Olympics on Sunday, when the Swedish stars triumphed at the Ostrava Elite, claiming their first gold medals in the 2025 Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour season and successfully defending the title they had won in the Czech city in 2024.

Stepping on the podium next to the Olympic champions at the iconic Lower Vítkovice industrial heritage site were Norwegians Anders Mol and Christian Sørum, who also earned medals at the French capital last year, and reigning world champions and home heroes Ondřej Perušič and David Schweiner of Czechia.

• Watch the Beach Pro Tour Ostrava Elite replays on VBTV

In order to secure their first title in 2025, Åhman and Hellvig, who were fifth in Quintana Roo and second in Saquarema in their first tournaments of the season, had to overcome a first-set loss to come back and beat Mol and Sørum in the three-set (28-30, 21-17, 15-7) gold medal match.

“This is an incredible place to play,” Åhman added. “This venue is unlike anything else in the world. We really love playing here and the fans are amazing.”

Beach Pro Tour Ostrava Elite – Results

With the victory, the Swedish got the better of their Norwegian rivals for the first time in a gold medal match since the 2023 Beach Pro Tour Finals. After that, Mol and Sørum, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic champions, prevailed twice when a gold medal was on the line, triumphing in the 2024 Beach Pro Tour Finals in Doha and the Saquarema Elite, last month, in Brazil. The all-time record between the teams now has eight Norwegian victories and six Swedish triumphs.

“It feels really good to win again, even more considering how well we played in the final,” Hellvig reacted. “I’m super happy to have the gold medal again.”

Competing internationally regularly since 2019, the Swedish now have 12 titles at the international level, besides the gold won in Paris and multiple victories at the youth level.

World champions take bronze

Reigning world champions Perušič and Schweiner will have to wait at least another year to win gold for the first time in Ostrava, but the home heroes made it to the podium in front of their home fans, taking bronze on Sunday.

The Czech stars faced Polish Olympians Michal Bryl and Bartosz Łosiak in the bronze medal match and delivered a strong performance to win in straight sets (23-21, 21-13) and secure their second medal in three events this season – they were the winners of the season-opening Yucatán Challenge in Mexico, back in March.

“It feels incredible,” Perušič reflected. “We wanted very much to win this medal for the great crowd here in Ostrava and for all the people who helped organize this amazing event. I’m very grateful to everyone involved with this tournament. We had a huge crowd here supporting us until the last day, and I’m really glad that we delivered the medal this time.”

The next Beach Pro Tour Elite event will be held in Gstaad, Switzerland, from July 2-6. Before that, two Challenge events will take place – the first will be in Alanya, Türkiye, from June 11-15, and the second will be in Warmia Marzury, Poland, from June 25-29.

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