As of: November 21, 2025 12:04 p.m
Next top opponent, next coup: Olympic silver medalists Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler are aiming for a medal at the Beach Volleyball World Cup in Australia. The Hamburg duo beat the defending champions on Friday and reached the semi-finals. Lukas Pfretzschner and Sven Winter, on the other hand, narrowly missed the semi-finals.
Ehlers/Wickler once again showed a strong performance against the Czech world champions Ondrej Perusic and David Pigner and won easily in two sets with 21:18, 21:18. On Saturday (9:30 a.m. CET) there will be a new edition of the Olympic final against the Swedish top team Jonatan Hellvig/David Ahman, in which Ehlers/Wickler had to admit defeat last year.
One day after the Hamburg duo had already defeated the world number one Anders Mol and Christian Sörum from Norway (2:1) in a thriller, they followed up in the quarter-finals on Friday. In a first round that was balanced for a long time with several lead changes, they had better nerves against the Czechs towards the end, pulled away to 19:16 and took the first set.
“He played fantastically and gave me a lot of support, especially in the second set.”
Clemens Wickler about Nils Ehlers
In the second half they were already leading 13:10. Perusic/Schweiner fought and equalized at 15:15. However, the more stable team that evening in Adelaide was the Hamburg team, who, like in the first round, pulled away decisively to 19:16 and ultimately secured a two-set win and a place in the semi-finals. It was the third victory over the Czechs in a row.
After the game, Wickler was “extremely proud and happy that we made it to the semi-finals.” After reaching the semifinals “at the highlight of the season,” the new goal is “not to leave here in fourth place. We want to bring something shiny home with us,” he said in the NDR interview. The “easiest” way to ensure this would be with a win over Hellvig/Ahman.
Bitter defeat for Pfretzschner/Winter
In the second semi-final, Ahman and Hellvig’s compatriots Jacob Hölting Nilsson and Elmer Andersson will meet the French Teo Rotar/Arnaud Gauthier-Rat (5.30 a.m. CET), who eliminated the German duo Pfretzschner/Winter in a dramatic quarter-final on Friday.
It was particularly bitter for the team from Dachau and Düsseldorf that they missed several good opportunities in the first and third sets of the narrow 1:2 defeat (19:21, 21:17, 13:15). They led 19:18 in the first round, but gave up the set after losing three points in a row.
“I had the match in my hands. If I play a few balls a little more clearly, then we will win the game and be in the semi-finals.”
Sven Winter
After a dominant second round, missed opportunities in the decisive section, as in the first set, proved fatal for the German champions. The match was lost by the narrowest of margins, meaning the tournament in Australia is over for Pfretzschner/Winter.
Winter was annoyed after the encounter: “I had the match in my hands. If I play a few balls a little more clearly, then we will win the game and be in the semi-finals.” Despite all the disappointment, he was also happy about a performance that “we can be proud of. It was a huge tournament for us.”
Video:
Winter after the World Cup exit: “We had the match in our hands” (2 min)
All German women’s teams out
In the women’s category, the three remaining German teams had to give up on Thursday. Louisa Lippmann/Linda Bock lost 0:2 (18:21, 14:21) against Valentina Gottardi/Reka Orsi Toth from Italy.
Sandra Ittlinger and Anna-Lena Grüne lost to the Brazilians Carol/Rebeccaum 0:2 (17:21, 18:21). Lea Kunst and Melanie Paul had no chance in the 0:2 (16:21, 16:21) against the Latvian Tina Graudina/Anastasija Kravcenoka. Svenja Müller and Cinja Tillmann, European champions from 2024, had already failed in the round of the best 32 teams.
