Montpellier, France, August 29, 2020 – Reigning Youth Olympic Games champions Jonatan Hellvig and David Ahman of Sweden claimed a sensational victory at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Montpellier event on Saturday and brought their country the first World Tour gold in history for either gender. For the 18-year-old Swedes, it was their best ever result on the World Tour after claiming their first medals in November last year at the Doha 1-star.
Local favourites Quincy Aye and Arnaud Gauthier-Rat had to settle for silver. For the French pair it was the second podium finish on the World Tour after their Montpellier silver in 2019. Aye himself medalled at Montpellier for the fourth time and also boasts a silver and a bronze in partnership with Youssef Krou, towards a total of six World Tour medals.
On his first ever World Tour appearance, Dutchman Leon Luini also claimed a spot on the podium. He and his partner Matthew Immers, both 19, crowned their superb performances at Montpellier with a well-deserved bronze. The pair snatched five consecutive victories over higher seeded teams before losing their semifinal to the top seeds from France, and then winning the third place match. For Immers, a Youth Olympic silver medallist from Buenos Aires and reigning U20 European champion, this was also the first World Tour medal. He had three previous participations, but had never made it among the top 20.
The Montpellier podium
In Saturday afternoon’s final, Aye and Gauthier-Rat maintained a small lead almost throughout the first set. Half way through the set, there was a curious exchange of four-point runs, which took the score from 11-8 to 15-12, with Hellvig and Ahman claiming a momentary advantage at 12-11. The French team went on to close the set at 21-18 on a wide spike by David Ahman.
The second set was split in two halves. Once again, the Swedes took the lead at 12-11, but this time kept pace to extend it to a 21-17 win and prompt a tie-breaker.
Riding the momentum, Hellvig and Ahman stormed into the third set on a 6-0 run and kept the fire burning through a victorious 15-9 finish, shaped up with a spectacular team performance for the last point crowned with a beautiful spike by Ahman.
“Many thanks to the Montpellier audience! It's a really nice place to play. We are delighted to have beaten Chile yesterday and France today, in this final which is undoubtedly our biggest game of the week,” the Swedish players commented.
"The Swedes were really better today,” Arnaud Gauthier-Rat admitted. “We will quickly get back to work for the European Championship next month."
“We kept up the pace, but we gave up,” Quincy Aye added. “We took second place at this World Tour stop in Montpellier, like last year, but I promise, one day I will win this tournament!"
The first set of the bronze medal match between Luini and Immers and fifth-seeded Timothee Platre and Arnaud Loiseau of France was very tight. The home pair almost managed to wipe out a five-point deficit, but the Dutch team persevered through to close the set at 21-19.
The second set was way more dramatic. This time, Platre and Loiseau not only managed to come back from a six-point lag they had at 14-8, but also stepped two points ahead to take an 18-16 lead. Moments later, Luini and Immers denied a double set point for the French before converting the second match point of their own into a 24-22 victory.
Earlier on Saturday afternoon, Hellvig and Ahman maintained control of the scoreboard for most of their semifinal against Platre and Loiseau. The Frenchmen fought well and the match was far from one-sided, but the Swedes managed to win both sets by the same score – 2-0 (21-18, 21-18).
Aye and Gauthier-Rat were more emphatic in their semifinal against 14th-seeded Luini and Immers. The more experienced Frenchmen put a stop to the young Dutch pair’s five-game winning streak at Montpellier cruising comfortably to a 2-0 (21-16, 21-13) win.