ESPINHO, Portugal, May 26, 2024.- Medal contenders for the upcoming Paris Olympics, USA’s Taryn Kloth/Kristen Nuss secured an important victory just two months before the start of the event, taking gold at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Espinho Elite16 on Sunday.
The tournament held at the Praia da Baía was the fourth of seven Elite16 events set to happen before the start of the Games and had one of the strongest fields of the season, with almost all the top teams of international beach volleyball making the trip to Portugal.
Kloth, 27, and Nuss, 26, got to celebrate their sixth gold on the Beach Pro Tour and their first in 2024 after taking silver earlier this month in Brasília with a dramatic 2-1 (17-21, 28-26, 15-10) victory over Swiss Nina Brunner and Tanja Hüberli in a match in which they had to avoid six match points from their opponents in the second set before triumphing in the tie-breaker.
“This is absolutely unreal,” Nuss told Volleyball World. “It was such a battle. I think we go to three every single time against that Swiss team, they’re phenomenal athletes. It was pretty fun to just battle in this wind. The stadium was packed for the finals and for us, athletes, it means a lot to play in this atmosphere.”
Espinho Elite16 – Final Results
From Espinho, the Beach Pro Tour heads to the Polish city of Stare Jablonki, which will host the second-to-last event in the Olympic qualification period, from May 30-June 2. The Challenge event will mark the return of international beach volleyball to the city for the first time since 2014.
The last event of the Olympic qualification period will be held in Ostrava, Czechia, from June 5-9, and will be an Elite16 tournament.
English 
Spanish