Beach boys in Paris

Hörl and Horst secure their Olympic ticket

Great joy for the Austrian beach volleyball men! Julian Hörl and Alexander Horst will be taking part in the Olympic Games. The duo benefited from an early defeat of their direct rivals from Chile. While Horst is taking part for the fourth time, Hörl is making his debut.

They had to tremble for so long, now it's finally fixed! Julian Hörl from Saalfelden and Alexander Horst from Lower Austria will be competing for Austria at the Olympic Games in Paris. The decision was made at the last qualifying tournament in Ostrava (Tch). There it was already clear in advance that the competitors from Chile (Grimalt/Grimalt) would have to do better than the red-white-red team. 

In the first qualifying round for the tournament, Hörl/Horst faced Argentina's Capogrosso/Capogrosso and won 2:0. Because the Chileans lost 2:1 to the Dutch duo Luini/Varenhorst at the same time and were therefore eliminated early, the Austrians can no longer be denied a ticket to Paris. 

"Childhood dream comes true"
"A childhood dream has come true for me!" beams Hörl, who is competing under the five rings for the first time in his career. This is the fourth time his playing partner has had the pleasure. "It even makes me sentimental. For the first time, my kids can accompany me," says Horst, who took part for the first time in 2008. And is particularly happy for "Hörli": "He put so much heart and soul into this qualification, he wasn't in any junior squad, he worked hard for everything."