Netherlands and Sweden secure Europe’s first LA28 beach volleyball spots
The Dutch women and Swedish men won EuroBeachVolley in Poland. Because Olympic places belong to countries rather than pairs, Sweden still has a selection decision to make.
Katja Stam of the Netherlands at the 2022 European Championships in Munich. On Sunday in Poland, Stam and Raisa Schoon won EuroBeachVolley gold and Europe’s first women’s beach volleyball berth for LA28.
Photo: Granada / CC BY-SA 4.0
Katja Stam and Raisa Schoon swept Spain’s Sofía Izuzquiza and Tania Moreno 21–13, 21–11 on Sunday to win the women’s title at EuroBeachVolley in Stare Jabłonki, Poland. The Dutch pair went 6–0 through the tournament and secured Europe’s first women’s beach volleyball quota for Los Angeles 2028.
Sweden claimed the men’s place after a much tighter final. Jacob Hölting Nilsson and Elmer Andersson beat Norway’s Anders Mol and Christian Sørum 21–18, 18–21, 15–10, handing the five-time European champions their first defeat in a EuroBeachVolley final.
The results qualified countries, not individual teams. Under the FIVB system, each continental championship awards one men’s and one women’s place to a National Olympic Committee. The United States has host berths, while Africa, Asia, South America, and NORCECA will stage their continental qualifiers later this year. Each country can eventually enter up to two pairs per gender.
That distinction matters most for Sweden. Hölting Nilsson, 21, and Andersson, 20, won all six of their matches in Poland. They also beat Swedish teammates David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig, the reigning Olympic and world champions, in the semifinals before taking down Mol and Sørum.
Sweden now has one guaranteed men’s place but does not have to send the pair that earned it. Andersson acknowledged after the final that Åhman and Hellvig could still be selected for Los Angeles. If the federation gives them the continental berth, Hölting Nilsson and Andersson would need Sweden to earn a second quota through the rankings or another qualifying route.
Stam and Schoon face less uncertainty. The two-time Olympians entered the week ranked fifth in the world and won their first European title without losing a match. Barring a major change in form, the pair that earned the Dutch quota is well placed to use it.
Fourteen more places per gender will be awarded through the Olympic rankings, with additional berths available at the 2027 World Championships and a final Olympic Qualifier Series. Europe’s first results have put the Netherlands and Sweden into the field early. They have not settled which four athletes will represent those countries in Los Angeles.