Russians crash German world champs party – Vikings claim bronze against Bourne/Crabb
Russian dream team of Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovskiy ended all German hopes for another world championships title. In the packed Rothenbaum arena, the local crowds cheered heavily for the home town boys Clemens Wickler and Julius Thole to make the dream come true in the gold medal match of the 2019 World Championships. The Russians came back strong after losing the first set to the German youngsters. With strong serves down the middle they silenced the Hamburg Rothenbaum. In a final that couldn’t keep up with spectacular previous matches, the Germans could also not keep the high level of play they had shown before. Since the Russians were mostly performing soft shots instead of hard spikes against the German blocker, Julius Thole was not able to continue the incredible block party shown in the previous matches. Too many missed serves and Thole’s slight injury paved the way for the Russians to take the second and third set.
In the bronze medal match, Norwegian gold favorites Anders Mol and Christian Sorum who had lost the semifinal to Thole/Wickler, recovered in style and claimed bronze. Against American surprise team Tri Bourne and Trevor Crabb, last year’s World Tour Final winners needed three sets to claim their medal. Still suffering from the defeat the day before, the Vikings refocused after losing the first set. In set two and three they didn’t leave any room for the US team (19:21, 21:15, 21:10). For Tri Bourne, Hamburg turned out to be a great stage for his world championships comeback. After being sidelined for almost two years due to an autoimmune disease, reaching the final four is a huge success:
“It went three sets in the semi-final and in the bronze medal match and we had a real chance of winning a medal here. We’re still a new partnership and have a lot of room to grow and and we definitely got better at this tournament.”
