A new country will be crowned in the men’s tournament of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships as Sweden’s David Åhman/Jonatan Hellvig and Czechia’s Ondrej Perusic/David Schweiner will meet in the gold medal match of the 14^th edition of the tournament on Sunday in Mexico.

Swedish and Czechs will play for gold at the electric Tlaxcala Bullring at 14:30 local time (20:30 UTC), while Poland’s Michal Bryl/Bartosz Łosiak and USA’s Theo Brunner/Trevor Crabb will meet for bronze at 12:00 local time (18:00 UTC).

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The two finalists have met on three occasions at the international level and Perusic and Schweiner won two of these duels, including the most recent one, at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Uberlândia Elite16, in April.

In the first semifinal on Saturday, Åhman and Hellvig lost their second set in the tournament, but managed to come out on top, beating Bryl and Łosiak in a nail-biting three-set (21-11, 20-22, 18-16) battle to advance.

“It was a similar match to yesterday’s,” Hellvig reflected, mentioning their three-set quarterfinal duel against the Netherlands’ Stefan Boermans/Yorick de Groot. “We lost the second set and going into the third, we knew anything could happen. We felt we didn’t have the courage to go for it on some plays, so when we sat on the bench for the timeout, we just told each other that this was our chance and that we had to go for it. It’s never too late to win the match.”

The qualification to the World Championships final was just the most recent success in Åhman and Hellvig’s incredible trajectory since taking gold at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games. The first Swedish team to win a Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour event and the European Championships, the two have guaranteed their country its first-ever World Championships medal, making of Sweden the 14^th different nation to make a podium appearance in the event.

“We’ve been working together for seven years now and I’m, of course, very proud,” coach Rasmus Jonsson commented. “For us, to be in the gold medal match of the World Championships is huge. Every day we want to improve and get better and there’s some things that we’ve been working on that really showed this week, such as Jonatan’s blocking.”

If they prevail on Sunday’s gold medal match in Tlaxcala, the Swedish will become the two youngest players to ever claim the world title – Åhman at 21 years, ten months and 25 days and Hellvig at 22 years and ten days. A victory would also earn Sweden a spot at next year’s Paris 2024 Games, confirming the return of the country to the Olympic beach volleyball tournament for the first time since 2004.

“We’re going to do whatever it takes to win tomorrow,” Åhman remarked. “We’ll try and play our game and really go for it, but, of course, it’s going to be a really tough battle.”

Beach Volleyball World Championships - Match Schedule and Results

In the second semifinal, Perusic and Schweiner built from the momentum created by their big win over Norway’s Anders Mol and Christian Sørum in the quarterfinals and dominated Brunner and Crabb to a straight-set (21-15, 21-12) victory.

The Czech Olympians will be the first men from their country to return home with World Championships medals and could also become the first players to claim world titles. Czechia’s only medal in the event was won by the women’s team of Eva Celbová and Sona Nováková, in 2001.

Perusic and Schweiner’s journey in Mexico has been one of resilience as, after arriving to the country fresh from arguably the biggest victory in their careers, at the Beach Pro Tour Paris Elite16, they saw their advancement to the elimination rounds seriously jeopardized with a pair of upsets in pool play. Since the elimination rounds began, however, the two have been nearly perfect, dropping just one set in four matches.

“We had a really hard week here, but somehow made it happen,” Schweiner reflected. “This match was really nervous from our side and I’m very glad that we managed to win. We had a good tactical plan and played as a team.”

Set to face Åhman and Hellvig in the gold medal match, the Czechs know they need to continue on the same pace in order to celebrate a historic world title.

“We practiced with them during the winter and we know each other very well and are familiar with their playing style,” Perusic revealed. “I think in this final, it will be a lot about preparing well, working closely with our coaches and making sure we're ready. We have a big staff here and it's really a dream to achieve this with them here.”

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