Representatives of two generations met in the final of the second Grand Slam event in the Swatch-FIVB World Tour calendar at the Norwegian harbour of Stavanger.

 

 

The impressive Vaagen harbour venue hosted this week its 13th consecutive men’s tournament as the city made its debut on the beach volleyball world map back in 1999. It is no surprise, however, that Brazilians were involved in the match for the gold because “cariocas” have won 27 medals in total from beach volleyball events in Norway (including in this number prizes achieved in the open category tournament in Kristiansand).

The veterans Marcio Araujo and Ricardo Santos met in the final on Sunday one of the most promising and rapidly developing couples in the world, namely the young Poles Grzegorz Fijalek and Mariusz Prudel. Despite winning in straight sets, the Brazilians faced some tough competition from their younger rivals, who finished on the prestigious 5th place in the World Championship two weeks ago. Unlike the final game then, Marcio and Ricardo did not commit so many unforced errors today. They managed to serve well and even played with a great spirit to which Fijalek and Prudel had no response. The Polish youngsters lost 18-21 and 22-24 in 44 minutes and had to remain one step down from the top during the medal ceremony – an achievement that marks their highest World Tour event ranking since they play together from 2008 improving their bronze medal podium in Marseille (France) last year. Ricardo, on the other side, won his 7th gold in Stavanger, this time with Marcio, who became his third different partner in the titleholders history table. The Brazilians had a difficult start of the tournament when they lost to Semenov-Koshkarev for the first place in the preliminary Pool L, but went through the elimination bracket unbeaten to grab the first place.

In the third-place match the world champions from 2009 Brink-Reckermann had to overcome the Norwegians Skarlund-Spinnangr and the home crowd support to win another bronze medal in two weeks. Skarlund and Spinnangr enjoyed a better start by taking the first set 21-17, but the Germans came back stronger to win after a 15-11 eleven tie-break.

Of course, now that we mentioned the four teams which made it to the semifinals, questions would arise mainly about some of the favourites missing. After reaching the world top and taking the lead in the World Tour ranking, Emanuel-Alison seemed very convincing until the quarterfinal match versus Skarlund-Spinnangr where the Norwegians recovered from dropping the opening set by winning the next two. To many people, including myself, this was the major upset in the Grand Slam. This win, on the other side, was a pure demonstration of the viking battle skills, which Tarjei Skarlung and Martin Spinnangr have obviously inherited from their predecessors.

It is almost a routine to talk about the problems Dalhausser-Rogers are facing recently. The Americans were eliminated in a second consecutive tournament by Brink-Reckermann and clearly show that they need some hard work to regain their shape. We are all curious to see whether they will take their revenge soon enough as the world elite is moving south in Europe for another Grand Slam event in the Swiss Alps next week. Gstaad is exactly the place where Dalhausser-Rogers won their world title back in 2007 and it will be the perfect place for them to take some major points for the world rankings. A new mistake might cost them the World Tour crown at the end of the year.