With the FIVB World Championships now less than a month away, it’s the perfect time to be playing your best ball and that’s what Norway’s top-ranked duo of Anders Mol and Christian Sorum are doing.
Competing in their third tournament, on three continents, in three consecutive weeks, the World Tour Final winners swept to a third win over their third different finals opponent to continue as the no. 1-ranked duo in the world. They now have won medals in four of their six tournaments this season and eight of their 28 tournaments all-time (28.6%).
They beat the Czech pair Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner, cheered on by the crowd in Ostrava (CZE), who won their third World Tour silver medal as a duo and first this season. It’s a move up for them, as their prior medals were in a 1-star and a 2-star, not a 4-star level event as in Ostrava.
The women’s tournament had an all-Brazilian final, the first since the 2018 Huntington Beach Open. In the end, it was Agatha Bednarczuk and Duda Lisboa winning their first tournament since the World Tour Finals in Hamburg in 2018, turning away the hot new pair for 2019, Ana Patricia Ramos and Rebecca Cavalcanti, in straight sets.
Not only had Agatha and Duda not won since lat season, they hadn’t won a medal. Ramos and Cavalcanti, on the other hand, had won five medals coming into Ostrava (3-1-1) and have to be one of the favorites for medal contention at the World Championships.
Not to be ignored was the continued good play of Americans Kerri Walsh Jennings and Brooke Sweat, who finished fourth here after winning in Jinjiang the previous week. Summaries:
FIVB World Tour
Ostrava (CZE) ~ 28 May-2 June 2019
(Full results here)
Men: 1. Anders Mol/Christian Sorum (NOR); 2. Ondrej Perusic/David Schweiner (CZE); 3. Grzegorz Fijalek/Michal Bryl (POL); 4. Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Oleg Stoyanovskiy (RUS). Semis: Perusic/Schweiner d. Fijalek/Bryl, 2-0; Mol/Sorum d. Krasilnikov/Stoyanovskiy, 2-0. Third: Fijalek/Bryl d. Krasilnikov/Stoyanovskiy, 2-1. Final: Mol/Sorum d. Perusic/Schweiner, 2-1 (17-21, 21-15, 15-10).
Women: 1. Agatha Bednarczuk/Duda Lisboa (BRA); 2. Ana Patricia Silva Ramos/Rebecca Cavalcanti (BRA); 3. Sanne Keizer/Madelein Meppelink (NED); 4. Kerri Walsh Jennings/Brooke Sweat (USA). Semis: Agatha/Duda d. Walsh Jennings/Sweat, 2-0; Ana Patricia/Rebecca d. Keizer/Meppelink, 2-0. Third: Keizer/Meppelink d. Walsh Jennings/Sweat, 2-0. Final: Agatha/Duda d. Ana Patricia/Rebecca, 2-0 (21-19, 21-17).