The 2025 FIVB U18 Beach Volleyball World Championships took place in the Mexican city of Cholula, in the state of Puebla, from October 15 to 19. Without dropping a single set in seven matches played, Gustavs Auzins & Kristians Fokerots of Latvia lifted the men’s trophy, while USA’s Sally Perez & Avery Jackson travelled all the way from the qualifications to the top of the women’s podium. Poland’s Szymon Beta & Artem Besarab and Mexico’s Antonio Lares & Carlos Andres Ayala earned silver and bronze in the men’s tournament, while another American pair, Zoey Henson & Sarah Wood, and Brazil’s Marcela Barbosa & Maria Clara completed the women’s podium.
Third-seeded Gustavs Auzins & Kristians Fokerots triumphed with the men’s title in Puebla. It was the second world title for the talented Latvians, after their U19 victory three years earlier. It was also the second world title for Latvia at the junior men’s level. Seven straight-set victories propelled the 20-year-old central Europeans to the top of the podium in Puebla. A much anticipated semifinal battle between two teams that had not lost a single set at the tournament that far went 2-0 (21-17, 21-19) the way of Auzins & Fokerots against top-seeded home heroes Antonio Lares & Carlos Andres Ayala. The Latvian run was crowned with a narrow 2-0 (21-19, 21-19) sweep of the gold medal showdown against second-seeded Szymon Beta & Artem Besarab of Poland.
“I feel amazing! I am just sinking in all these emotions, but we are world champions and I am just really happy!” Fokerots told FIVB.com.
“We were preparing for this moment almost for at least a year for me. So, we were just really focused and tried to do our best and enjoyed the game… And we just managed to win!” Auzins added.
The silver went to 20-year-old Poles Szymon Beta & Artem Besarab and it was the first world-level medal for them as a pair. They earned their spot on the podium after a merciless 2-0 (21-16, 21-15) sweep of the all-Polish semifinal against last year’s U19 world champions Szymon Pietraszek & Jakub Krzeminski.
19-year-old Lares & Carlos Andres Ayala, always cheered on incessantly by the fantastic home crowd in Cholula, stumbled in the semifinals for the first time in this tournament, but bounced back with an emphatic 2-0 (21-16, 21-13) shutout of Pietraszek & Krzeminski to claim the bronze, an important build-up on the fourth place they took at last year’s U19 World Championship in China.
20-year-old Sally Perez and 19-year-old Avery Jackson of the United States cruised from the qualifications to the top of the women’s podium in Puebla. In their first tournament together, they dropped only two sets in nine matches played to triumph with the world title. It was the second time the junior women’s world title was won by an American team. In an emphatic semifinal, the American duo, seeded 30th in the 32-team main draw, dealt with 31st-seeded Brazilians Marcela Barbosa & Maria Clara by a speedy 2-0 (21-15, 21-8). Then, the all-American gold medal match went 2-0 (25-23, 21-15) the way of Perez & Jackson against second-seeded Zoey Henson & Sarah Wood.
“It’s incredible! We’ve worked so hard for this! Avery deserves this! She deserved the opportunity and I wanted to win it for her, so I am just super proud of us!” a tearful Perez said right after the victory.
“This was such a competitive tournament, so just knowing that we were able to stick together (we never played with each other before and I am not a defender!), this is really awesome for us! We stuck through it and stayed positive,” Jackson added.
20-year-old Henson and 17-year-old Wood had to settle for silver. Two of these four Americans – Perez & Wood – claimed bronze at the 2024 U19 World Championship together and in Puebla they both built up on that achievement, but with different partners.
Marcela & Maria Clara, who also made their way from the qualifications to the medal matches, claimed the bronze. In a hard-fought bronze medal match, the Brazilian duo battled it out for a 2-1 (25-23, 14-21, 15-13) victory over yet another team emerging from the qualifiers, Hungary’s Chiara Honti-Majoros & Stefania Kun.
46 men’s teams and 40 women’s teams representing 47 different federations took part in the 2025 FIVB U21 Beach Volleyball World Championships in Puebla.
Click here for the official 2025 FIVB U21 Beach Volleyball World Championship website.
