Gustavs Auzins-Kristians Fokerots (Photo FIVB)
The Latvian pair of Gustavs Auzins-Kristians Fokerots added the men’s FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championships in Pueblo without dropping a single set in seven matches.
The duo of Sally Perez-Avery Jackson won the women’s world crown wining in an all-American final.
It was the second world title for the talented Latvians, after their U19 victory three years ago. It was also the second world title for Latvia at the junior men’s level, after the triumph of Martins Plavins-Aleksandrs Samoilovs in 2005.
Auzins & Fokerots are two-time age-group European champions too, and have a couple of podiums together on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour.
The silver went to Poland’s Szymon Beta-Artem Besarab and it was the first world-level medal for them as a pair.
Home heroes Antonio Lares-arlos Andres Ayala stumbled in the semifinals for the first time in this tournament, but bounced back to claim the bronze, an important build-up on the fourth place they took at last year’s U19 World Championship in Shangluo, China.
The men’s final also offered a coaching duel between two former U21 world champions – Latvia’s Martins Plavins, who triumphed in 2005, and Poland’s Jakub Szalankiewicz, who lifted the trophy in 2009.
Auzins-Fokerots maintained a slight lead for most of the first set of the gold medal showdown, but Beta-Besarab managed to stay close behind and even caught up a few times, but in the end, a Polish error in attack handed the set to the Latvians by the narrowest of margins.
Auzins & Fokerots put away four points in a row to take a 9-5 lead in the second set and pushed on to reach a triple match point at 20-17. The Poles denied it twice, but finally a block-out shot by Auzins put an end to it at 2-0 (21-19, 21-19).
“I feel amazing. I am just sinking all these emotions, but we are world champions and I am just really happy!” said Fokerots.
“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.
Once again inspired by the fantastic home crowd that filled up the center court stands on this beautiful Sunday in Cholula, 19-year-old Lares-Carlos Andres hammered out an emphatic 2-0 (21-16, 21-13) shutout of last year’s U19 world champions Szymon Pietraszek-Jakub Krzeminski of Poland in the third-place match to secure Mexico’s third podium in the history of the competition, after Josue Gaxiola-Jose Luis Rubio’s silver in 2016 and Miguel Sarabia & Raymond Stephens’s bronze in 2019.
For Lares-Carlos Andres themselves, it was the first world-level medal. They have not made a Beach Pro Tour podium yet, but this season they have collected four continental NORCECA Tour medals so far.
The semifinals took place earlier on the day. In an all-Polish duel, 20-year-old Beta-Besarab were merciless for their slightly younger compatriots, 19-year-old Pietraszek-Krzeminski, and mastered a 2-0 (21-16, 21-15) sweep.
After that, a much anticipated 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 Lares-Carlos Andres.
USA’s Sally Perez-Avery Jackson travelled all the way from the qualifications to the top of the women’s podium.
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, after Tara Roenicke-Summer Ross claimed it in 2010.
Another US pair, Zoey Henson-Sarah Wood, took silver after conceding the all-American final. Two of these four Americans – Sally Perez, now 19, and Sarah Wood, now 17 – claimed bronze at the U19 World Championship last year together and now they have both built up on that achievement, but with different partners.
Another team that made their way from the qualifications to the medal matches, Brazil’s Marcela Barbosa-Maria Clara, claimed the bronze.
The first set of the gold medal showdown offered a great battle. In the money time, Henson-Wood broke away with a 19-16 lead, but Perez & Jackson reacted with four in a row to reach the first set point.
The set was pushed deep into overtime with both sides failing to convert their opportunities to close it off. Finally, a monster block by Perez ended the set and gave her team the lead. With three points in a row, Perez- Jackson broke away with a 14-11 advantage in the second set and never looked back. A pokey by Perez again ended the match at 2-0 (25-23, 21-15).
“It’s incredible! We’ve worked so far 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!” said a tearful Perez 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.
In a hard-fought bronze medal match in Cholula earlier on Sunday, Marcela-Maria Clara battled it out for a 2-1 (25-23, 14-21, 15-13) victory over yet another duo emerging from the qualifiers, Hungary’s Chiara Honti-Majoros-Stefania Kun. While this was the first world-level podium for 20-year-old Maria Clara, her 18-year-old partner Marcela has already been on a Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour podium as well, at the 2024 Pingtan Futures, also with a bronze.
In the semi-finals, Honti-Majoros-Kun put up a fight against Henson-Wood and pushed the match to three, but the Americans outlasted them for a 2-1 (21-13, 18-21, 15-12) victory. Then, Perez-Jackson dealt with Marcela-Maria Clara in a speedy 2-0 (21-15, 21-8) straight-setter.
