Challenge - Shangluo, CHN - 2026

Aussies Nicolaidis & Carracher celebrate first Challenge gold in Shangluo

Two German pairs complete the podium in China

Published 10:27, 26 Jul 2026

The men’s Shangluo Challenge final

Australian Olympians Mark Nicolaidis & Izac Carracher claimed their first-ever Challenge-level medal on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour. And it was once again gold, just like their previous two medals on the Tour, at the Futures level. Furthermore, it was the first earned outside Australia as they topped the Shangluo Challenge men’s podium in China.

Watch the Shangluo Challenge on the Beach Volleyball World YouTube channel

The silver went to Germany’s Philipp Huster & Sven Winter and it was their first Beach Pro Tour medal as a team. Another German duo – the pairing of Paris 2024 Olympic silver medalist Nils Ehlers with Lui Wust – took bronze at their second appearance on the Tour together.

The 2026 Shangluo Challenge medalists

Ninth-seeded Nicolaidis & Carracher made a perfect run of five straight-set wins on the way to the Shangluo final. They crowned their quest to the podium with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-15) sweep of their semifinal against second-seeded Ehlers & Wust. The Aussies lost their only set of the tournament in Sunday’s final against 12^th-seeded Huster & Winter, but mounted a thrilling 2-1 (19-21, 21-15, 16-14) comeback to make sure they bring home the gold. Carracher recorded a smashing nine kill blocks against the Germans towards a match-high 28 points.

In their semifinal, Huster & Winter produced a 2-0 (21-16, 21-19) shutout of 11^th-seeded Czechs Jakub Sepka & Jiri Sedlak, and eventually finished the tournament as runners-up on a 5-2 win-loss record.

Ehlers & Wust bounced back from their semifinal loss to the champions-to-be with a 2-0 (21-17, 21-16) victory over Sepka & Sedlak in the third-place playoff to get the bronze.