All three women’s podium spots at the Cape Town Elite on the Beach Pro Tour on Sunday were occupied by teams supported by FIVB Volleyball Empowerment, as Svenja Muller & Cinja Tillmann of Germany, Katja Stam & Raisa Schoon of the Netherlands and Sandra Ittlinger & Anna-Lena Grune, also of Germany, lined up on top of the final standings. The men’s silver and bronze also went to program beneficiaries – Timo Hammarberg & Tim Berger of Austria and Mathias Berntsen & Hendrik Mol, respectively – while Sweden’s Jacob Holting Nilsson & Elmer Andersson triumphed as gold medalists.
The German Volleyball Federation’s beach volleyball department has been allocated a total of USD 168,000 in coach support from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment. Their national pairs are training under the supervision of former European champion and two-time Olympian Christoph Dieckmann, while Fabian Tobias has been hired in the role of National Coach for Science. The Netherlands Volleyball Federation has so far been granted a total of USD 217,600 in national beach volleyball teams coach support from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment. Their women’s pairs work under the guidance of Cypriot coach Antreas Savvidis and his staff.
Germany’s Svenja Muller & Cinja Tillmann triumphed on top of the women’s podium in South Africa after winning all six of their matches and dropping only a set along the way. The gold they claimed was the pair’s third on the Tour. Their collection also features three silvers and two bronzes. In their semifinal, the third-seeded Germans put together a 2-0 (21-16, 21-18) shutout of fifth-seeded Latvians Tina Graudina & Anastasija Samoilova, and in the gold medal match (pictured in the main photo), they squeezed out a hard-fought 2-0 (21-17, 25-23) victory over Katja Stam & Raisa Schoon of the Netherlands.
The Dutch pair started their Cape Town campaign as leaders of the qualification bracket, made it all the way to the final and picked up silver, while seeded 17th in the 24-team main draw. For the two-time Olympians, it was the 10th Beach Pro Tour medal. They dominated their semifinal against Sandra Ittlinger & Anna-Lena Grune and achieved a 2-0 (21-14, 21-19) victory.
Seventh-seeded Germans Ittlinger & Grune claimed the bronze, their first Beach Pro Tour medal since they teamed up for the start of this season. It was also the first Elite-level podium for either of the two players. The German duo fought back from a set down to celebrate a 2-1 (17-21, 21-15, 15-9) turnaround in the third-place game against Tina & Anastasija.
Austria’s beach volleyball has so far been allocated USD 84,000 in coach support from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment, in addition to another USD 6,000 for a national team coach development knowledge transfer program. Greek coach Georgios Kotsilianos has been in charge of their men’s national duos. The Norwegian national federation, has so far been granted a total of USD 252,000 in FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support for their national beach volleyball teams, with Jetmund Bernsten in charge of the men’s duos. Another USD 6,000 funded a national team coach development knowledge transfer program.
A pair of young Austrians, 21-year-old Timo Hammarberg & 20-year-old Tim Berger, seeded sixth in the main draw, took the men’s silver in South Africa, the team’s fourth Beach Pro Tour medal. All three of their previous podiums were achieved at Futures tournaments. They lost only one match on the way to the final, in a playoff game against Remi Bassereau & Calvin Aye, but then got back at the fifth-seeded Frenchmen with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-15) shutout in the semifinals.
After losing the other semifinal to champions-to-be Jacob Holting Nilsson & Elmer Andersson of Sweden by 2-1 (21-15, 19-21, 15-5), eighth-seeded Mathias Berntsen & Hendrik Mol of Norway bounced back to take a 2-1 (21-18, 14-21, 15-8) victory over Bassereau & Aye in the third-place match and claimed the bronze, also their first ever medal at the Elite level. Previously, they had three Challenge-category podiums back in 2022 and 2023.
Top-seeded Swedes Holting Nilsson & Andersson celebrated their first ever Elite-level gold. They cruised through the competition undefeated in six matches played, losing only two sets along the way. It was their sixth gold and ninth medal overall on the Tour. 20-year-old Holting Nilsson and 19-year-old Andersson won Sunday’s gold medal match in straight sets, beating the Austrians by 2-0 (21-15, 21-18).
31 women’s teams and 32 men’s teams from 23 different federations, representing all five continental confederations, took part in the Cape Town Elite.
The next Elite event on the Beach Pro Tour will take place from December 3 to 7 in Itapema, Brazil.
