Challenge - Nayarit, MEX - 2026

Yan & Xia win Nayarit to bring home first Beach Pro Tour gold together

Verena & Thainara grab silver, Anderson & Chacon snatch bronze in Mexico

Published 08:51, 29 Mar 2026

Triumphant Yan Xu & Xia Xinyi at the Nayarit Challenge

The Chinese pairing of two-time Olympian Xia Xinyi with Yan Xu brought home its first Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour medal since they teamed up for their international debut at the Adelaide 2025 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships. Seeded fourth in the Nayarit Challenge women’s main draw, Yan & Xia made a solid run of six consecutive wins in Mexico and grabbed gold.

Watch the Nayarit Challenge on the Beach Volleyball World YouTube channel

Brazil’s Verena Figueira & Thainara Feitosa took silver to make their first Beach Pro Tour podium as a team out of three appearances on the Tour so far. They also reached the final undefeated to yield only to the Chinese champions in the gold medal showdown.

Madelyne Anderson & Alaina Chacon of the United States have collected plenty of Beach Pro Tour medals with different partners, but now, at their second participation together, they claimed their first as a pair, the Nayarit Challenge bronze.

The 2026 Nayarit Challenge medalists (source: INCUFID-Nayarit)

In Sunday’s final on the Varadero Beach center court in Nuevo Vallarta, Yan Xu & Xia Xinyi squeezed out a hard-fought 2-1 (21-18, 16-21, 17-15) victory over Verena & Thainara. After splitting the first two sets, the two teams engaged in a fierce battle during the tie-breaker. The Brazilians had the lead for most of the third set and were the first to reach match point, but their Asian opponents denied two of those before edging ahead on a point from Xia and winning the showdown on a long shot by Thainara. 29-year-old Xia and 24-year-old Thainara shared the top scorer honors with an impressive 31 points, including two aces, each. Thainara also shined on the block with as many as eight stuffs. 21-year-old Yan and 29-year-old Verena finished with 15 points each.

In the third-place match earlier on Sunday, 16^th-seeded Anderson & Chacon never allowed their opponents, top-seeded Germans Melanie Paul & Lea Kunst, to take the lead in the score. The Americans had the initiative for most of the game and celebrated a 2-0 (21-19, 21-15) victory. 27-year-old Chacon scored the winners’ only ace and topped the match chart with 18 points. 24-year-old Anderson added 11, all in swings. Kunst led the German team with 16 points, including two blocks, while Paul signed off with 10 successful spikes and an ace.