Beach Volleyball Olympic Champs Excited About Munich 2022
Christian Sørum and Anders Mol will have the historic chance to reach new heights with an unprecedented five-peat at the European Championships Munich 2022. They have won the last four consecutive CEV BeachVolley Championships.
Munich 2022 will be the biggest multisport event in Germany since 1972, hosting nine European Championships concurrently. “It’s like the Mini-Olympics,” explains Mol. The first European Championships in Glasgow and Berlin in 2018 hadn’t included beach volleyball. Making its inaugural appearance even more special to the Norwegian pair.
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The beach volleyball games will take place at Königsplatz alongside sport climbing. Sørum appreciates the chance to watch the growing sport live. “It’s really cool and a great idea to do it like this. So, we can watch each other.” Mol agrees: “That’s a great set up.”
Their focus will remain in the sand, however. “We love beach volleyball. We love to play, and we love this lifestyle,” manifests Mol. But that isn’t their only driving force for the younger of the two and his partner in crime. “We can improve a lot even though we are so achieved already.” Olympic Champions. Four consecutive European Championship titles. Freshly crowned world champions. Nevertheless, the Norwegian pair is far from done.
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WEAKNESSES AND DEAR FAVOURITES
Even they have weaknesses. “Christian’s hand setting is one thing.” Sørum knows it himself: “It will show up one day and be amazing.” Both laugh sheepishly. “We’ll see. But, thinking about beach volleyball, the game is always improving. And you always have to find a way to beat a different team and find the right timing of doing the skills.”
Though most of the time you don’t get to choose the skill you need to use for a play everyone has a favourite. “I have to admit I love blocking, of course. I love stopping the opponent,” says Mol. And he’s objectively phenomenal at it, having won the FIVB award for Best Blocker for 2018/19. Though Mol is most proud of being crowned Best Team in Norway twice with Christian. And winning the Most Outstanding Player Award of the league, which is voted for by athletes, coaches and referees. As they know the sport best this award is his most prized.
“And I love players that hit hard, because I can really be part of the game.” Playing against opponents, who prefer finesse shots is a true annoyance. “That’s when Christian has to work, and I don’t think he likes it either.” Sørum goes along with the theory: “Then I have to work for first balls and make sure they don’t do it again. And then I put the work on Anders.”
FESTIVAL FEELINGS
Sørum is elated about the multisport event in Europe. “I’ve really been jealous of the Commonwealth Games; they have this big event together and it looks huge. So, it’s really cool that we European countries can have something like this.” Nine European Championships over a span of eleven days, including a festival of surprises, which Sørum inquired about.
He is excited for “The Roofs” and asked for more information on it during our interview. Mol just laughed, knowing his colleague all too well, and hoping he'll focus on the sport.
NORWAY’S POWERHOUSES TO BE IN MUNICH
Both hope to watch other sports as well. “We have a lot of good rowers and Karsten Warholm and Jacob Ingebrigsten in athletics,” says Mol. Sorum used to do athletics himself. Mol continues his thought. “We would like to cheer for our fellow Norwegians.” “And table tennis is really cool, I’ve always wanted to see [that].”
And maybe they’ll have time to ask the long jumpers how they deal with all the sand. “The sand is everywhere,” Mol confirms.
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LUCKY SAND FROM ALL AROUND THE WORLD
“We washed the floor here [at apartment during trainings camp] like two days ago, and it is a massive chunk of sand. I can’t even imagine how it got here.”
The problem isn’t new. “And there is so much sand in our luggage. In my luggage, that I brought everywhere, there is probably sand from Brazil, China, Tenerife, all the places we have been.”
Sørum can't even rid himself of the grains. “And the sand is really sticky, you shower two times, and you still have sand in your hair. You have to get used to it.” One thing they’re not willing to get used to is defeat. Mol notes: “We still hate loosing.”