Norwegian beach volleyball players Annešs Mūls / Kristians Sērums triumphed in the European Championship in Jūrmala on Sunday, winning the title for the third year in a row.
The Norwegians with the first number defeated Vyacheslav Krasilnikov / Oleg Stoyanowski from Russia in the final with 2-0 (21:19, 21:15), who were sown with the second number.
Mule / Serum is currently the world’s leading duo and they have been crowned European Champions in the last three championships. Krasiļņikovs / Stojanovskis, on the other hand, are last year’s world champions, but in Europe only Krasiļņikovs, who won silver medals with Konstantin Semyonov four years ago, was among them.
Before that, the Italian duo Danielle Lupo / Paolo Nikolai, who was put out in the battle for bronze with the fifth number, defeated the Russians Nikita Lamin / Taras Miskiv 2-1 (17:21, 23:21, 15:12), who received the 11th number in the championship.
In the semi-finals, Müls / Serums defeated the Italians with 2-0 (27:25, 21:19), but Krasilnikov / Stojanovskis won 2-0 (21:17, 21:16) over his compatriots.
It has already been reported that Latvia’s leading duos Aleksandrs Samoilovs / Jānis Šmēdiņš and Mārtiņš Pļaviņš / Edgars Točs stopped before the quarter-finals, thus concluding the championship in the split ninth place.
The gold medals for women were won by the Swiss Joan Haidrich / Anuka Verge-Depre.
The tournament in 32 pairs of men and women gathered the best European beach volleyball men’s duets from 15 countries and women’s pairs from 13 countries.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the tournament is eligible for one of the strongest tournaments of the season in terms of status in the world.
It has already been reported that the games did not take place in the European Championship on Thursday, because the strong wind had flooded the playing fields. On Friday, the matches took place in the outdoor areas of the “Ruukki” beach stadium in Mārupe, but on Saturday the competition returned to Majori beach.
