The concept was to medal in Guadalajara. For Nina Brunner and Tanja Huberli to play their first Problem occasion in two years. To really feel the stress of being the one seed, the expectations of a medal. Of getting each staff’s finest shot, and at hand it proper again, that their finest wasn’t adequate.
It didn’t work.
It labored out higher than deliberate.
Brunner and Huberli didn’t medal in final weekend’s Guadalajara Problem. As an alternative, they completed ninth, upset by qualifiers Sophie Bukovec and Heather Bansley. However these reps? That loss? They paved the way in which for a far greater second: A gold medal at this week’s Tepic Elite16 which marked, nearly unbelievably, the primary gold medal they’ve gained as a staff.
“We each needed to win a lot as a result of we’ve been on this Tour for therefore lengthy and already we’ve made semifinals and finals however we’ve by no means gained,” mentioned Huberli who, it should be famous, has gained two European Championships with Brunner, in 2021 and 2023. “The final two days are most likely probably the most intense days in our head as a result of we had been so centered. We simply needed to win and it was actually laborious.”
Till the finals, they made it look remarkably straightforward, sweeping 5 straight opponents, together with No. 5 Brandie Wilkerson and Melissa Humana-Paredes (21-15, 21-19) within the quarterfinals and No. 4 Carol Salgado and Barbara Seixas (21-17, 21-17) within the semifinals. After one other dominant 21-14 first set win within the gold medal match over the Netherlands’ Raisa Schoon and Katja Stam, it appeared the Swiss machine would roll on, an ideal, uninterrupted run to gold. However Stam and Schoon had been there by no accident. Like Switzerland, additionally they hadn’t dropped a match, rolling by Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth in pool play, 21-15, 21-13. It was no fluke, as they equally dominated Italians Marta Menegatti and Valentina Gottardi within the semifinals, closing a 21-10 second set win on a 14-3 run.
(Extra on the robust tourney for the USA under).
Whereas no such run could be allowed by the Swiss, Schoon and Stam held on to win the second, 21-19, forcing a 3rd, exhibiting shades harking back to their first last encounter, within the 2023 Doha Elite16 finals. Then, as on Sunday, Switzerland gained the primary set and dropped the second. However Sunday confirmed a unique Swiss staff, one which was holding opponents to simply 40 % facet out on the weekend. One last time, their protection prevailed, holding on for a 19-17 third set win to say their first Seaside Professional Tour gold medal.
“They put a lot stress on us and so they performed so good and it was such an in depth sport,” mentioned Huberli, who completed with a tournament-leading 26 blocks. “It makes the win a lot extra helpful and extra particular.”
Particular, too, for the federation as a complete, as Brunner and Huberli’s gold medal follows that of Esmee Bobner and Zoe Verge-Depre, who gained their first as a staff final weekend in Guadalajara.
Two weekends in Mexico, two debut gold medals.
Was it how they deliberate it? Maybe not.
It was higher.
“We’re tremendous, tremendous blissful about this,” Brunner mentioned. “It was an actual battle, a tricky sport. We’ve waited a very long time. It’s unbelievable.”
Carol Salgado, Barbara Seixas clinch bid to Paris Olympic Video games
A person who has skilled an analogous wait, although for various causes, joined Brunner and Huberli on the rostrum. Carol Salgado has been one of many prime gamers on the FIVB or Seaside Professional Tour for greater than a decade, almost two. She has gained 9 tournaments, greater than a dozen silver medals and 15 extra bronze. However she has, nearly unbelievably — roughly as tough to imagine that the Swiss had by no means earlier than gained an Elite16 — by no means been an Olympian.
That modified Sunday.
Salgado and Barbara Seixas’ bronze medal on Sunday, through which they beat Menegatti and Gottardi 22-20, 21-23, 25-23, formally sealed their bid to the Paris Olympic Video games, the place they’ll be a part of Ana Patricia Silva and Duda Lisboa as Brazil’s prime two pairs.
“Oh, my God,” Carol mentioned after the bronze medal win. “It means a lot, this sport, this medal. The Italians are a tremendous staff, it’s at all times an important battle in opposition to them. However me and Barbara, we had been sturdy in our heads. I’m actually, actually pleased with us.”
It’s the seventh medal of the Olympic qualifying interval for Barbara and Carol, and No. 12 of their partnership, which started in 2022.
Swedish jump-setters proceed torrid gold-medal spree
Such a rely is a formidable one, little question. However, by some means, it nearly pales compared to that of the boys’s gold medalists from the Tepic Elite16: Sweden’s David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig.
As they did a 12 months in the past, Ahman and Hellvig gained gold in Tepic, this time stumping Brazilians George Wanderley and Andre Loyola 21-17, 19-21, 15-10. Tepic marked the seventh straight last for Sweden, a run through which they’ve laid declare to 5 gold medals, together with a second straight European Championship.
“I really feel superb,” Ahman mentioned. “It was such an unimaginable sport and we managed to win.”
Taking bronze for his or her first Elite16 medal on the Seaside Professional Tour was Cuba’s Jorge Alayo and Noslen Diaz, who’ve collected three medals in 5 occasions in 2024.
Disappointing exhibiting for USA at Tepic Elite16
Notably absent from the Tepic Elite16 podium was an American flag.
Of their debut occasion of the 2024 season, Andy Benesh and Miles Partain completed ninth, bowing out to Poland’s Bartosz Losiak and Michal Bryl (17-21, 18-21). Hours later, Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner had been swept by the Netherlands’ Steven Van de Velde and Matthew Immers (14-21, 16-21), who avenged an astonishing loss within the Guadalajara quarterfinals.
The ladies, too, settled for a pair of ninths. After barely breaking pool, Nuss and Kloth had been eradicated by Germans Svenja Muller and Cinja Tillmann (20-22, 22-24) in a rematch of final 12 months’s Seaside Professional Tour Finals gold medal match. Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes had been upset by Brazil’s Taina Silva and Victoria Lopes (21-12, 18-21, 9-15).
Each Tri Bourne and Chaim Schalk and Chase Budinger and Miles Evans fell within the qualifier, creating a good greater hole within the Olympic race to Crabb and Brunner.
The subsequent occasion on the Volleyball World Seaside Professional Tour is the Xiamen Problem in China, which begins with Thursday’s qualifier.