France are the new youth champions of the world! In Friday’s final of the FIVB Volleyball Boys’ U19 World Championship in San Juan, they outpaced Iran to celebrate with the crown for the first time in the competition. In fact, it was the country’s first volleyball world championship title for any age in either gender. They also had a youth bronze back in 2007.
Iran and Korea completed the podium with silver and bronze, respectively. Iran now single-handedly lead the all-time medal count in the competition with eight podiums: two gold, three silver and three bronze. For Korea, it was the third bronze overall, but the first since 1993.
The French blockers made the big difference towards their team’s 3-1 (25-22, 16-25, 25-18, 25-21) victory over Iran in the gold medal match. They raised 18 kill blocks against eight for the opponents. France also outserved Iran with six aces against five, while the Asians did slightly better in offence with 47 successful spikes against 46, and in precision with 21 unforced errors against 26 from the champions-to-be.