Beachvolley Vikings Anders Mol and Christian Sørum became only the second team in history to make it back-to-back Swatch Major Gstaad gold medals after hammering their way to victory in the final on Saturday.
The Norwegian youngsters, just 23 and 22 years old, defeated Dutch duo Robert Meeuwsen and Alexander Brouwer in straight sets 21-17, 21-15 to capture an astonishing eighth gold medal in their last 12 World Tour tournaments.
Last week, Anders and Christian’s World Championship dream finished with a bronze but this week in the mountains they were unbeatable, winning all six of their matches.
Having missed out on a gold medal in Hamburg, the Scandinavian world number ones made no mistake in clinching a second golden cowbell in a row, matching a record held by Brazilian legends Ricardo Santos and Emanuel Rego between 2004 and 2005.
In the bronze medal match, Brazil’s Evandro Gonçalves and Bruno Oscar Schmidt fought back to claim third place after beating Italians Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai.
“It’s amazing to win back-to-back gold medals in Gstaad,” said defender Christian. “It’s a fairytale to play here but especially this year.
“Last year when we played here we were just happy to be competing, but to win a cowbell was incredible. So to be back this year and win again after the World Championships was mentally tough.”
Anders, who excelled at the net with seven blocks, added: “We were a little bit disappointed with the semi-final at the World Championships.
“We were delighted with bronze but we were going for gold. With everything that happened during that tournament it was hard coming here but we managed to find our rhythm and energy to win.”
Playing in their first Beach Major Series final since June 2016, the silver medalists hailed the performance of the in-form Norwegians.
“It was pretty tough. We put in our best effort but it wasn’t even close to being enough,” admitted Meeuwsen. “They played well, it’s a different level and it’s up to us to practice hard and find a way to beat these guys.”
In the bronze medal match, Brazil’s Evandro Gonçalves and Bruno Oscar Schmidt fought back to claim third place after beating Italians Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai. Bruno, the 2016 Olympic champion and Evandro, the 2017 world champion, won 16-21, 21-17, 15-12 to collect their first Beach Major Series medal as a team.
