Aiming for something higher: Krasilnikov & Stoyanovskiy

Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovskiy are no ordinary Russian beach volleyball team as the pair accomplished something no other men's or women's team from the country has ever achieved on international sand - winning an FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship.

In posting a thrilling three-set win at the 2019 Hamburg Worlds in Germany by defeating local favorites Julius Thole and Clemens Wickler in the finals, Krasilnikov and Stoyanovskiy are now aiming to join teams from Brazil, Germany and the United States in winning both Summer Games and World Championship gold medals.

Krasilnikov and Stoyanovskiy are also aiming to become the first men's or women's Russian beach volleyball pair to win an Olympic medal since the introduction of the sport at the Atlanta 1996 Summer Games.

On the Olympic sand, Russia's best chance for a medal in the Summer Games came in 2016 on Copacabana where Krasilnikov and Konstantin Semenov reached medal rounds before losing to Italians Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai in the semifinals and Dutchmen Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen in the bronze medal match.

Russia also missed earning two other semifinals berths in Rio as Lupo and Nicolai eliminated Dmitri Barsouk and Nikita Liamin in the men's quarterfinals while Ekaterina Birlova and Evgeniya Ukolova were ousted by Agatha Bednarczuk and Barbara Seixas of Brazil to place fifth in the women's draw.

In placing fourth at the Copacabana competition, Krasilnikov said “Rio 2016 was my first Olympics, but I felt confident physically, technically and psychologically. The fourth-place showed that we could fight at the highest level. My goal then was to get to the Olympic Games, my goal now is to win medals at the Olympics."

With two of the three Rio medal teams expected to be competing in Tokyo (Lupo/Nicolai and Brouwer/Meeuwsen). Stoyanovskiy said he and Krasilnikov “are still in the early stages of our partnership. We have a lot to improve. We’re young as a team and we are trying to find out how we can interact on and off the court. For sure we need to keep concentrated so that we can do our best on the court in the future.”

While the Lupo/Nicolai and Brouwer/Meeuwsen partnerships have combined to play in 178 World Tour events with nine total gold medals and 41 podium placements the past decade, Krasilnikov and Stoyanovskiy have appeared in only 14 FIVB events with four titles and six medals. The Russians have never met Lupo and Nicolai on the World Tour with Krasilnikov and Stoyanovskiy winning their only match against the Dutch in April 2019 at an event in China.

“We’ve had an unbelievable start to our partnership," said Stoyanovskiy, who started playing with Krasilnikov in October 2018 at an event in China, where the pair placed second followed by a third the next week in the United States. "Slava (Krasilnikov) is the best and nothing more needs to be said.”

After the 2-3 finish, Krasilnikov and Stoyanovskiy won their third event together by topping the podium in the first event on the 2019 FIVB calendar in The Hague by defeating Thole and Wickler in the finals. It was the first of four-straight wins over the German pair as Krasilnikov and Stoyanovskiy also defeated Thole and Wickler in pool play in Qatar and at the FIVB World Tour Finals in Rome during the 2019 calendar year.

“Winning two of the three most prestigious competitions in beach volleyball was something unreal and I am very glad I got to experience it," Stoyanovskiy said about winning the Hamburg Worlds and Rome Finals. "We gained more confidence after each victory and we take this result as a reward for the work we’ve done and an incentive to continue working. Now we are stamped as world champs for the rest of our lives and I hope we use this popularity to promote our sport. Of course, now we are among the favourites at every tournament, and that adds to the pressure.”

With their Olympic ticket secure and the pandemic limiting their competition since winning the 2019 FIVB World Tour Finals in Rome, Krasilnikov and Stoyanovskiy added a second Russian national title to their resume in 2020 followed by a second-place finish at the European Championships in September at Jurmala, Latvia.

As Krasilnikov prepares for his second Olympics with a new partner, Stoyanovskiy has a "youth" Olympic gold medal to his credit after topping the podium with Artem Yarzutkin at the Nanjing 2014 competition in China.

“At that time, it was really a great achievement," Stoyanovskiy noted about Nanjing. "We got a feel of what the Olympics are like. Yes, not with the same pressure as at the adult Games, but it was an exceptionally good experience. Winning is always nice, especially at a once-in-a-lifetime event, considering the age restrictions.”

As for his partnership with Stoyanovskiy, Krasilnikov said “Oleg is a wonderful young guy - it is extremely comfortable to play with him. I have an incredibly good friendship with him, and we feel each other on the volleyball side. My experience, his physical abilities and our common aspiration to win are producing results. “I had a great relationship with all my partners, but with Oleg we have volleyball chemistry!”

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