Two players made it to the top of a Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour podium for the first time in their careers, as they claimed gold medals at the Montpellier Futures with their teammates on Sunday. Joadel Gardoque and partner Elouan Chouikh-Barbez delighted the home fans with the men’s trophy. Austria’s Robin Seidl & Alexander Huber and Spain’s Alvaro Viera & Antonio Saucedo took silver and bronze, respectively. 19-year-old Spanish player Sofia Izuzquiza and her teammate Sofia Gonzalez topped the women’s podium. Home duo Elsa Descamps & Anouk Dupin settled for silver, while the bronze went to American qualifiers Alexis Durish & Audrey Koenig.

22-year-old Joadel Gardoque celebrated not only his first gold, but also his first medal of any color on the Beach Pro Tour. He and 23-year-old Elouan Chouikh-Barbez, who had one previous podium finish, also gold, cruised through the Montpellier Futures undefeated in five matches played. In their semifinal, the top-seeded French team achieved a 2-0 (21-14, 21-19) win over fifth-seeded Spaniards Alvaro Viera & Antonio Saucedo. And in the gold medal showdown, Chouikh & Gardoque came back from a set down to deliver a 2-1 (16-21, 22-20, 15-12) victory over well-seasoned Olympians Robin Seidl & Alexander Huber.

In the other semifinal, the third-seeded Austrians mastered a 2-0 (21-11, 21-18) win over seventh-seeded compatriots Felix Friedl & Florian Schnetzer to secure their fourth Beach Pro Tour medal since they reunited for the start of this season. They now have two silvers and two bronzes.

Viera & Saucedo hammered out a 2-0 (21-16, 21-13) victory over Friedl & Schnetzer in the third-place game to snatch their second back-to-back bronze, after also finishing third at their previous Beach Pro Tour appearance at the Malmo Futures.

Sofia Izuzquiza, a silver medalist of last year’s FIVB U19 Beach Volleyball World Championship, now rejoiced with her first medal on the Beach Pro Tour. The Spanish teen and her namesake Sofia Gonzalez, who had one gold from three years ago, earned their second Tour podium together, after the Krakow Futures bronze last month. In Montpellier, the third-seeded Spanish pair managed to string up four straight-set victories on the way to the final, where they dropped their first set of the tournament, but beat top-seeded home favorites Elsa Descamps & Anouk Dupin by 2-1 (21-17, 14-21, 15-9).

In the semifinals, Izuzquiza & Gonzalez put together a 2-0 (21-15, 23-21) victory over USA’s Alexis Durish & Audrey Koenig, while Descamps & Dupin beat fourth-seeded Czechs Martina Maixnerova & Kylie Neuschaeferova by 2-0 (21-14, 21-15) and guaranteed themselves their first Beach Pro Tour medal as a team. Meanwhile, Dupin has extended her incredible season. She has now made the podiums at all five of her appearances on the Tour since the start of the year, collecting two golds, two silvers and one bronze, and she has achieved that with four different partners.

21-year-old Americans Alexis Durish & Audrey Koenig produced a 2-0 (21-16, 21-14) shutout of Maixnerova & Neuschaeferova in the third-place match and have now picked up two medals out of two Beach Pro Tour participations. At their rookie appearance in Geneva last week, they triumphed as gold medalists. In Montpellier, they started from the qualifications again and extended their winning streak to 12 games in a row, before Izuzquiza & Gonzalez put an end to it in the semis.

25 men’s teams and 26 women’s teams representing 21 different countries took part in the Montpellier Futures. The next Futures event will take place in Leuven, Belgium from July 18 to 21.

Montpellier Futures: results and standings

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