Beach U21 World Championships 2025

U19 world champs Pietraszek & Krzeminski storm U21 main draw

Duos from Italy, Norway and Ukraine also succeed in Puebla men’s qualifiers

Published 02:01, 16 Oct 2025

Hernandez/Harrinson (VEN) vs. Pietraszek/Krzeminski (POL) - Round 2 #67766927

Poland’s Jakub Krzeminski in action

2024 U19 world champions Szymon Pietraszek & Jakub Krzeminski were the first to secure advancement to the men’s main draw in Wednesday’s 2025 FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championship qualifications in Puebla, Mexico. Italy’s Andrea Sanguanini & Matteo Iurisci, Norway’s Even Stray Aas & Jonah Utvik and Ukraine’s Dmytro Kozii & Sviatoslav Nahornyi also passed the qualifier grind successfully to push through to the main draw on Thursday.

Watch the 2025 FIVB U21 Beach Volleyball World Championships on the Beach Volleyball World YouTube channel

After receiving a bye in the first qualification round, Pietraszek & Krzeminski stumbled in the first set of their second-round game against Venezuela’s Jose Hernandez & Harrison Riveros, but mounted a solid 2-1 (18-21, 21-12, 15-10) comeback. In the deciding third round, the Polish pair, coached by 2009 U21 world champion Jakub Szalankiewicz, mastered a convincing 2-0 (21-16, 21-17) victory over Belgium’s Casper Willems & Alexy Humblet, putting an end to the Belgians’ two game winning streak, and progressed to the main draw.

“The first match was all about nerves and being able to handle them. It was the first match of the competition, so there’s always excitement, there’s always some pressure, and I think we handled it greatly,” Pietraszek told FIVB.com. “For me, the second match was really tough, because of the tiredness. So, I am really grateful that we could win, after all.”

“A lot of time has passed already since that U19 victory, but there is always more pressure on us, because we are world champions, so we have to win. But we try not to think about it, to focus on ourselves and do our best in the game,” Krzeminski added.

Aas/Utvik (NOR) vs. Dudu/Gabriel (BRA) - Round 3 #67796238

The pouring evening rain over Cholula did not stop Morway’s Aas & Utvik from qualifying

Norway’s Aas & Utvik also started from the second qualification round with a 2-0 (21-19, 21-15) sweep of their opening game against Canada’s Gavin Deep & Aiden Hilkowitz. In the third round, they stopped the rise of Brazil’s Eduardo Barbosa (Dudu) and Gabriel De Oliveira, who had already won two matches earlier on Wednesday. In a tight battle, the Norwegians achieved a 2-0 (22-20, 21-18) victory and advancement to the main draw.

Ukraine’s Kozii & Nahornyi also squeezed through the third round with a narrow straight-set win. After putting together a hard-fought 2-0 (21-17, 21-18) victory over Germany’s Ole Sackermann & Janik Sambale in the second round, the Ukrainian pair followed up with a 2-0 (21-19, 21-19) victory over & Tom Sonneville & Yannick Verberne of the Netherlands to celebrate a spot in the main draw.

Italy’s Sanguanini & Iurisci started their campaign with a 2-0 (21-13, 21-18) second-round win over Latvia’s Marcis Berzins & Ernests Gutmanis, and backed it up with a 2-0 (21-19, 21-17) third-round victory over Slovenia’s Miha Kosanc & Benjamin Mugerli.