Vienna, Austria, August 6, 2017 - For the seventh-time, a men’s team from Brazil climbed atop the podium at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships as Evandro Goncalves and Andre Loyola defeated Clemens Doppler and Alexander Horst of Austria in the gold medal match before more than 10,000 fans on the Donauinsel centre court.
Seeded fourth in the 48-team field, Evandro and Andre posted a 2-0 (23-21, 22-20) win in 57 minutes over the 12th-seeded Doppler and Horst, who were seeking to become the second team to win a World Championship on their home sand.
With the win, Evandro and Andre join compatriots Para Ferreira/Guilherme Marquez (Los Angeles 1997), Emanuel Rego/Jose Loiola (Marseille 1999), Emanuel/Ricardo Santos (Rio de Janeiro, 2003), Marcio Araujo/Fabio Magalhaes (Berlin 2005), Alison Cerutti/Emanuel (Rome 2011) and Alison/Bruno Oscar Schmidt (The Hague, 2015).
The Brazilians, who split the $60,000 first-place prize, won their first gold medal together. The 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships presented by A1 was their eighth FIVB World Tour event together. The 2017 Vienna event was the Austrians’ 50th FIVB event as Doppler and Horst split $45,000 for placing second for the third time on the World Tour.
Alexander Horst (left) and Clemens Doppler of Austria
In the bronze medal match, sixth-seeded Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Nikita Liamin of Russia posted a 2-0 (21-17, 21-17) win in 42 minutes over 45th-seeded wild card entrants Maarten van Garderen and Christiaan Varenhorst of the Netherlands. The third-place win netted $35,000 for the Russians while van Garderen and Varenhorst shared $28,000 for the fourth-place finish.
Nikita Liamin (left) and Viacheslav Krasilnikov of Russia
Sunday’s four-match men’s schedule concluded 10 days of competition at the $1-million FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships presented by A1 where the 216-match competition was held at the state-of-the art venue at Donauinsel with the focal point of the action and entertainment being held with a picturesque view of the Danube River and the lively atmosphere of the Beach Village.
With a total of 96 men’s and women’s teams from 40 countries competing since July 28, the women’s gold medal was captured by Rio 2016 Olympic champions Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst as the Germans defeated Americans Lauren Fendrick and April Ross for the gold medal.
