World U18 champions Hüper & Wüst storm Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games boys’ final

It has been a breakthrough year for Lasse Hüper & Filo Wüst and on Wednesday, the German duo will have another opportunity to add a global title to their résumé when they take on Austria’s Paul Hohenauer & Martin Poinstingl in the final of the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games.

Hüper & Wüst arrived in Dakar as the tournament’s top seeds having won the FIVB U18 World Championship in the Hague in July. And on Tuesday, they turned on class to defeat Brazil’s Gabriel Campos & Bruno Fellipe Lobo Silva Souza in straight sets (21-15, 21-18) in the second boys’ semifinal match to remain unbeaten in the six matches they have played at the Saly Beach West so far.

“It’s been a crazy journey especially with all the media attention and expectation around us as the favourites. We have had some close games like today but I’m happy that we have made it to the final,” said Wüst.

“We were surprised by the support we got from the Senegal fans. It’s not something we expected, hopefully they will come tomorrow and we can win it for them. We are expecting a close game against Austria because it’s a very good team. We know each other well but we will give it our best and hopefully come out on top tomorrow,” added Hüper.

Hüper & Wüst had earlier overcome Iran’s Amirreza Jamshidi Khalkiasari & Amin Vakili by 2-0 (21-16, 21-17) in the quarterfinals while Gabriel & Bruno Fellipe edged out Norway’s Ludvig Sødal Ringøen & Liam Karlsen by a similar margin (21-18, 21-17) to reach the semifinals.

Austria’s second seeds Paul Hohenauer & Martin Poinstingl completed a 2-0 (21-15, 21-16) victory over Australia’s Ryan Edgar & Thomas Turner in the semifinals to storm the final with a six-match unbeaten record.

“We were solid today and didn’t let them have any chances. Our sideout quality was extremely high. Martin played crazy sideout and the numbers speak for us. I think we played really well overall,” noted Hohenauer.

“We will recover today, analyse our opponent then push for the gold medal tomorrow. However, we are happy that we have secured a medal in such a crazy atmosphere, especially the noise from the crowd,” said Poinstingl.

Hohenauer & Poinstingl had defeated Chile’s Gael Arias Saldias & Francisco Farias Valdivia in straight sets (21-11, 21-09) in the quarterfinals played on Tuesday morning to qualify for the last four. On the other hand, Edgar & Turner stunned USA’s Caden Phillips & Gavin Mortensen by 2-0 (21-13, 21-16) to book a place in the semifinals.

On Wednesday, Australia’s Edgar & Turner will face off with Brazil’s Gabriel & Bruno Fellipe in the bronze medal match at 12:00 local time/GMT after which the gold medal match will be played at 15:00 local time/GMT.

Gold medal match

Hüper & Wüst (GER) vs Hohenauer & Poinstingl (AUT)

Bronze medal match

Edgar & Turner (AUS) vs Gabriel & Bruno Fellipe (BRA)

Click here to visit the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games Beach Volleyball event page.