Beach Volleyball

Crazy showdown for the last Olympic tickets

Beach volleyball duo Julian Hörl and Alex Horst will have to show nerves of steel to get their ticket to Paris. A duel with Chilean rivals is already possible in qualifying round two.

More showdown is not possible! For Julian Hörl from Saalfelden and his partner Alex Horst, the final countdown for an Olympic ticket begins today. The beach volleyball duo will have to keep their ranking rivals at bay at the Elite16 tournament in Ostrava (Tch) with the Chilean Grimalt Cousins.

We're just ahead, from ninth place onwards we have to be better

Alexander Horst

"We are just ahead, we have to be better from ninth place onwards," summarized Horst, for whom it would be his fourth Olympics, on Monday in Vienna. The media event for the Elite 16 tournament on the Heumarkt (from July 9) - for which a promotional game was also filmed on the A1 tower at a lofty 136 meters - took place there. For each of the 16 top teams, Heumarkt will be the dress rehearsal for Paris.

On the way there, Ostrava, where the home aces traveled by car, will be the stopover. The update came yesterday with the qualifying match schedule. As the devil would have it, the direct duel (season record 2:2) with the Grimalts would already be scheduled in round two - so only one duo would advance to the group stage. Hörl: "Absolutely crazy. After a year and a half of qualifying and the best twelve results, this showdown awaits."