A highly anticipated rematch of last year`s Paris Olympics gold medal final is set to electrify Düsseldorf this Saturday. Swedish beach volleyball stars David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig are preparing to face Germany`s Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler in the men’s quarterfinals of the 2025 CEV EuroBeachVolley.
These Olympic gold and silver medalists are among the elite eight men`s teams who successfully navigated Friday`s intense Round of 16 matches at the Rochus Club. All four quarterfinal clashes are scheduled for Saturday, with the semifinals and crucial medal matches culminating the tournament on Sunday.
Ehlers and Wickler are the only German team still standing in the competition.
Competing on their home turf, Ehlers and Wickler were the last team to secure their quarterfinal spot, doing so against another Swedish pair. They overcame the reigning U22 European champions Jacob Hölting Nilsson and Elmer Andersson in a thrilling tie-breaker (21-13, 18-21, 19-17) during the Round of 16.
Åhman and Hellvig, who clinched gold in Paris last year and are aiming for their third EuroBeachVolley title in four seasons this week, also required a full three sets to confirm their presence in Saturday’s quarterfinals. They narrowly defeated Dutch opponents Matthew Immers and Ruben Penninga 2-1 (25-27, 21-17, 16-14) in their Round of 16 encounter.
Head-to-Head: Åhman/Hellvig vs. Ehlers/Wickler
Saturday’s contest will mark the first time the German and Swedish teams have met since their epic Olympic final last year. Historically, Åhman and Hellvig have held a significant advantage over Ehlers and Wickler, boasting a dominant record of 12 wins in their 13 previous duels, including an impressive streak of their last 11 encounters.
Other Key Quarterfinal Matchups
Four-time EuroBeachVolley champions Anders Mol and Christian Sørum of Norway, who earned bronze in Paris last year, were pushed to three sets for the first time in Düsseldorf. However, the `Beach Volley Vikings` persevered, eliminating defending champions Martins Plavins and Kristians Fokerots of Latvia with a 2-1 victory (22-20, 20-22, 15-6) in the Round of 16.
Mol and Sørum are now set to face the young Austrian duo Tim Berger and Timo Hammarberg. The Austrians secured their quarterfinal berth with a hard-fought three-set win (21-17, 17-21, 15-13) over England`s Bello twins, Javier and Joaquin, in their Round of 16 match.
Reigning world champions Ondřej Perušič and David Schweiner from Czechia also advanced to the quarterfinals, comfortably defeating Israelis Eylon Elazar and Kevin Cuzmiciov in straight sets (21-18, 21-19). Their next opponents in Düsseldorf will be Dutch Olympians Alexander Brouwer and Steven van de Velde, who swept Swiss pair Adrian Heidrich and Jonathan Jordan (21-15, 28-26).
Perušič dives to make a dig in the match against the Israelis.
The fourth and final quarterfinal clash in Düsseldorf will see the undefeated Dutch Olympians Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Grook take on French pair Téo Rotar and Arnaud Gauthier-Rat. Boermans and de Grook secured their spot by defeating Germans Paul Henning and Lui Wüst 2-0 (21-19, 21-11), while Rotar and Gauthier-Rat also claimed a straight-sets victory (21-15, 21-15) over the German Sagstetter brothers, Jonas and Benedikt.
