After achieving tremendous success overseas over the last two weeks, German beach volleyball teams will have a special homecoming in the next few days, when they will get to play in front of their home fans at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Hamburg Elite16 event.

Led by Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler, who took silver at both the Paris 2024 Olympics and the European Championship over the last two weeks, and Svenja Müller and Cinja Tillmann, who secured the continental title in the Netherlands last Saturday, nine German duos will be in action at the Am Rothenbaum Stadium from Wednesday to Sunday in the first major international event after the Games.

• Watch Beach Pro Tour Hamburg Elite16 matches live on VBTV

Among them will be the legendary Laura Ludwig, a Rio 2016 Olympic champion who is set to retire this season and will play in Hamburg, the city where she lives, the 176^th and last international tournament of a career that started in 2005 and took her to a record five Olympics.

The 38-year-old Ludwig, who will have Louisa Lippmann by her side, starting directly in the main draw, was part of the only German team to ever win an international event in Hamburg, as former partner Kira Walkenhorst and her topped the podium in front of their home fans in 2016 and 2017.

Ehlers and Wickler, who made it to the semifinals in seven of the nine tournaments they played in 2024, enter the Hamburg Elite16 as the top-seeded team on the men’s side after taking bronze in the same event in 2022 – Wickler also took silver in 2019, when the city hosted the FIVB World Championship, with Julius Thole.

Besides the Olympic medalists, Germany will also be represented by Lukas Pfretzschner/Sven Winter and Paul Henning/Maximilian Just, who also begin in the main draw, and Robin Sowa/Benedikt Sagstetter and Philipp Huster/Jonas Sagstetter, who will need to go through Wednesday’s qualifier.

Beach Pro Tour Hamburg Elite16 – Men’s Entry List

Besides the silver medalists, nine other teams who competed at the Paris Olympics two weeks ago will be in action in Hamburg this week, including bronze medalists Anders Mol and Christian Sørum of Norway, who triumphed in the city in 2018, Polish Michal Bryl and Bartosz Łosiak, who claimed gold at last year’s Beach Pro Tour event in 2022, and Italians Paolo Nicolai and Samuele Cottafava, who took silver last year.

Müller and Tillmann lead the women

The women’s tournament, which has Müller and Tillmann as the top-seeded duo, will also count on Ludwig and Lippmann in the main draw, while Margareta Kozuch/Sarah Schneider and Anna-Lena Grüne/Chenoa Christ begin in the qualifier.

Beach Pro Tour Hamburg Elite16 – Women’s Entry List

Müller and Tillmann, who were ninth in Paris, made it to the podium in Hamburg last year in third place and will try to make the most of their excellent form, which saw them win two of their last three tournaments, to take their country back to the top of the podium after seven years.

Four teams that competed in Paris 2024 will try to stand between the Germans and the gold medals in Hamburg, most notably Swiss Tanja Hüberli and Nina Brunner, who won bronze at the Olympics, and Italians Marta Menegatti and Valentina Gottardi, who were Müller and Tillmann’s opponents at the European Championship gold medal match last weekend.

Beach Pro Tour Hamburg Elite16 – Match Schedule

The event begins on Wednesday, with qualifiers for both genders – only the top four men’s and women’s teams move forward. Pool play will be split into Thursday and Friday, with Round of 12 and quarterfinal matches taking place on Saturday and the semifinals and medal matches ending the tournament on Sunday.

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