Volleyball Nations League 2021 - News

0B8F5EEC-2B7F-4182-9237-07855C362A1D

The Beach Volley Vikings topped the podium in Rome

Anders Mol and Christian Sorum were on a mission at the Beach Volleyball World Championships Rome 2022. After winning nearly every title they possibly could over the last four years, the Norwegians made the trip to Italy looking for the missing item in their trophy cabinet. And they got it on Sunday, when they stepped on to the top of the podium at the Foto Italico.

The reigning Olympic champions, the Beach Volley Vikings brought a sensational ten days of elite-level beach volleyball in the Italian capital to an end with another fantastic performance, defeating Brazilians Vitor Felipe and Renato Lima in straight sets (21-15, 21-16) to claim their first world title. Brazilians Andre Loyola and George Wanderley took bronze.

Since 2018, when they started one of the most incredible runs ever seen in international beach volleyball, the Beach Volley Vikings have won as many as 20 tournaments, including last year’s Tokyo Olympics, the 2018 and 2021 FIVB World Tour Finals and four European Championship gold medals.

“We want to win as many titles as possible,” Mol said. “Our dream as a team is to win titles and also to make more people play this wonderful sport. We love beach volleyball so much and I just hope everyone can see how much fun we have on the court. It’s a great sport, it’s a great family and we want to help the sport grow and reach the potential it has.”

The World Championship trophy was the last to be added to their collection and made of the 26-year-old Sorum and the 24-year-old Mol the youngest team to simultaneously hold the Olympic and world titles, joining a list that includes Brazil’s Jackie Silva/Sandra Pires, Ricardo Santos/Emanuel Rego and Alison Cerutti/Bruno Schmidt, USA’s Kerri Walsh Jennings/Misty May-Treanor and Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers and Germany’s Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst.

“This has been our dream for so long," said Sorum. "And to do it in front of so many people at the Foro Italico and to have our families and friends with us…Our team has been working so hard for so many years. I still get goosebumps when I remember the 2009 World Championship, which I watched in Stavanger, and now we are world champions.”

Brazil had a second team on the men’s podium thanks to the victory of Andre and George over Americans Theo Brunner and Chaim Schalk in the bronze medal match. The Brazilians recovered from a slow start to come from behind and take the match 2-1 (15-21, 21-17, 15-11).

Andre and George, who entered the tournament at the top of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Rankings, won their first medal together at the World Championship after finishing fifth in 2019. It was Andre’s second podium appearance on the big stage as he won the 2017 edition of the tournament with Evandro Goncalves.

“Any medal you can win at the World Championships is a big one,” Andre reflected. “And this one was very important for us because I think we did a great job in playing on the big stage and dealing with the tension of key matches. We work hard every day to succeed in the big tournaments and I think we grew a lot in that regard here in Rome.”