All six medals at last week’s CEV U22 Beach Volleyball European Championships in Madrid, Spain went to teams representing FIVB Volleyball Empowerment supported federations. Latvia’s Gustavs Auzins & Kristians Fokerots and Nigella Negenman & Floor Hogenhout of the Netherlands (pictured in the main photo; source: cev.eu) triumphed as continental champions. The men’s and the women’s silvers were claimed by Lithuania’s Povilas Piesina & Dovydas Sinkevicius and Latvia’s Liva Ebere & Deniela Konstantinova, while Norway’s Even Aas & Sebastian Kjemperud and Czechia’s Katerina Pavelkova & Anna Pavelkova brought home bronze.
The Volleyball Federation of Latvia has so far been allocated a total of USD 210,000 in coach support for their national teams in beach volleyball from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment, in addition to USD 5,500 in beach volleyball equipment. Their youth duos are working under the guidance of Sandris Andrejevs, Luize Skrastina and Edgars Tocs. The Netherlands Volleyball Federation (Nevobo) has been granted a total of USD 664,000 in national beach volleyball teams coach support from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment. Their women’s pairs work under the guidance of Brazilian coach Lucas Motta Palermo. The Lithuanian Volleyball Federation’s beach volleyball department has been funded with a total of USD 477,000 in FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support for their national duos, and another USD 12,000 for national team coach development knowledge transfer programs. Their junior men’s pairs have been training under the guidance of coach Tadas Donela. Norges Volleyballforbund, the Norwegian national federation, has received 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. In addition, a USD 6,000 for a national team coaches development knowledge transfer program was granted. The Czech Volleyball Federation has been allocated USD 252,000 in FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support for their national beach volleyball teams and another USD 18,000 in national beach volleyball team coach development knowledge transfer programs. Their women’s pairs take advantage of Argentinean coach Sebastian Menegozzo’s expertise.
Two-time age-group world champions and two-time age-group European champions Gustavs Auzins & Kristians Fokerots of Latvia added a third continental crown to their already impressive record. Without dropping a single set in six matches played in Madrid, the talented young Latvians triumphed as 2026 U22 European champions. In their semifinal, they hammered out a 2-0 (21-12, 21-19) win over Norway’s Even Aas & Sebastian Kjemperud, and in the gold medal showdown, they mastered a 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) victory over Lithuania’s Povilas Piesina & Dovydas Sinkevicius.
20-year-old Piesina and 19-year-old Sinkevicius also reached the U22 final undefeated. They crowned their five-game winning streak with a hard-fought 2-1 (18-21, 21-14, 16-14) comeback victory over Switzerland’s Daniel Allemann & Mathis Kalin to secure their first continental podium.
Aas & Kjemperud bounced back from the only loss they suffered in Madrid with a 2-1 (21-13, 18-21, 15-4) win over Allemann & Kalin in the third-place match to get the bronze – the second continental medal for Aas, after the 2024 U22 silver, and second European podium for 18-year-old Kjemperud, who triumphed as a U20 continental champion just a week earlier in Italy.
On the way to the women’s title, Netherlands’ Nigella Negenman & Floor Hogenhout swept their first four matches in straight sets, but when it came down to the last two games, they resorted to tie-breaker wins to emerge on top of the podium. The Dutch duo put together a 2-1 (21-15, 13-21, 15-9) semifinal victory over Czechia’s Katerina Pavelkova & Anna Pavelkova and a nail-biting 2-1 (21-13, 16-21, 18-16) win over Latvia’s Liva Ebere & Deniela Konstantinova in the gold medal match.
Konstantinova and 18-year-old Ebere secured their fourth European age-group medal together (now three silvers and a bronze) with a 2-0 (22-20, 21-18) sweep of their hard-fought semifinal match against Spanish home favorites Sofía Izuzquiza & Adriana Serrano, completing a run of five straight-set wins in a row on the way to the final.
The Pavelkova twins also beat Izuzquiza & Serrano in straight sets, 2-0 (21-17, 21-12), in the third-place playoff to enrich their age-group European Championship hardware collection to five medals, including two titles.
27 men’s and 24 women’s duos representing 26 different federations took part in the CEV U22 Beach Volleyball European Championships.
