Forty-eight men’s and women’s teams came to Tokyo with gold medal hopes, but only a few were considered favorites. After two incredible weeks of beach volleyball action four of those favorites are left to fight for the biggest prize in the sport.
USA and Australia battle for women’s Gold
Alix Klineman and April Ross put on their most dominant display in their semifinal triumph over Switzerland’s Anouk Vergé-Dépré & Joana Heidrich. The Americans blasted their semifinal opponents 21-12, 21-11. They are an intimidating team to face under any circumstances, but how much more in a gold medal match after they demolished a very good team.
Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artach del Solar aren’t the type of team to be intimidated though. They have already taken out Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes, Alix and April’s usual foes in big tournament finals. That quarterfinal victory was followed up by a victory over Latvia’s Tina Graudina & Anastasija Kravcenoka yesterday.
Watch the serving battle
The Americans are favored, but Australia can use a similar game plan against the A-team that gave them success over the World Champions. The strong Aussie serve will likely target Alix and if they can come up with the timely aces or get the Americans out of system they will have the upper hand. If Alix and April can handle the serve, like they have in every other match in the last two weeks, then they’ll be hard to beat.
The Australians may be the more dangerous server but the American serve will be an even more important factor in the result. That is because the Australians run an offensive system that is unstoppable when their passing is on. Clancy’s second ball attack is the most effective in the world, but depends on Mariafe’s perfect passing. They also run all kinds of attacks through a variety of sets, which also depend on great server receive.
If Alix and April don’t get their powerful serves in early and dial it back a bit to give themselves a chance to score points, look for Mariafe and Taliqua to get their creative offense firing.
The bronze medal bounce back
The bronze medal match is not for as big of a prize, but it may require more mental fortitude. Hours after losing the Olympic semifinal both teams have to brush off the disappointment and fight it out for a place on the podium. In the gold medal match, both teams enter knowing they are going to be Olympic medalists, that is not the case in this match. The bronze medalist sees their flag raised in the medal ceremony while the fourth place finisher is quickly forgotten. The Swiss and Latvian women don’t want to be forgotten.
The Latvians are the younger team with all kinds of upside. It is the first Olympics for both Tina and Anastasija and at 23 and 24 years old they have handled the pressure better than most Olympic veterans. These teams won the last two European Championships. Latvia won in 2019 and Switzerland won the tournament played in 2020.
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Norway meets Russia as expected
In the men’s gold medal match, it will be Russia against Norway. If the Olympics hadn’t been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this is the match we would have wanted. Any other Olympic final coming off the 2019 season would have been an injustice. With the Olympics delayed by a year, there were many new developments. Some stumbles by The Beachvolley Vikings, some bad form from Krasilnikov and Stoyanovskiy, the emergence of Ahmed Tijan and Cherif Samba all made this match seem less of a sure thing. But the last few rounds have given us all the 2019 feels again, and these two teams are feeling it, too.
Anders Mol and Christian Sorum were the best team on the planet for the last three years. Yesterday in the semifinal they reminded us why. Anders went off for 10 blocks against Martins Plavins and Edgars Tocs. The Latvians who had given the last two giant blockers, Evandro and Alison, more than they could handle could not find a way around him. Sorum also reminded us why he was the FIVB’s best defender in 2019. Like Klineman and Ross, their semifinal performance was their best in Tokyo yet. They are hitting to for just in time for the biggest match of their lives.
Krasilnikov and Stoyanovskiy had to get through the best team of 2021 to make the gold medal match. The World Champs are a leathal combination. Stoyanovskiy is a giant blocker that moves very well on the sand. Krasilnikov is a big defender and as explosive as they come. When they are in system there is almost no stopping them. When they are out of system they are able to rescue lost points better than anyone.
Latvia looking for one more upset
Martins Plavins is one more big win away from getting his second Olympic bronze. He had Edgars Tocs have pulled off three big surprise wins in Tokyo already and need a third to take home a bronze medal. Cherif and Ahmed will be disappointed to not be playing for gold, but need to snap back quickly if they don’t want to go back to Qatar empty handed. This match is the entertaining undercard for the main event tomorrow in Tokyo.