Celebrating 2022: FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships

In 2022, the world witnessed a festival of beach volleyball in Rome, Italy, with the world’s finest duos battling it out for one of the biggest prizes in the sport – the title of world champions.

The FIVB is today celebrating all things beach volleyball with a look at the crowning moments of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships 2022 which smashed records as millions engaged with the event.

Additionally, we look back at the successful FIVB Beach Volleyball U19 World Championships which showcased some raising talents of beach volleyball in action.

Records smashed

Held at the iconic Foro Italico in the beautiful capital of Italy, fans worldwide could not get enough of the action on the court. A record-breaking 16 million fans were wowed by content on Volleyball World’s digital platforms.

The records continued to tumble with 25 million impressions from 9 million unique viewers recorded across Volleyball World TV and owned social media channels – an all-time high for beach volleyball’s flagship event. The Beach Volleyball World Championships also saw a total watch time of 37 million minutes.

Additionally, the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships 2022 marked the biggest broadcast coverage in the history of the event with 17 live broadcasters beaming the action on the sand around the globe by the likes of SRF, Rai, CBC, ESPN and ARD/NDR.

Lifting the World Championship trophy

Seeing the Norwegian duo of Anders Mol and Christian Sørum – aka. the Beach Volley Vikings – atop podiums is commonplace on the international beach volleyball circuit. And yet the title of world champions had alluded them. This was rectified in 2022, as the reigning Olympic champions claimed gold in the Foro Italico after ten days of world-class beach volleyball.

The pair overcame Brazilians Vitor Felipe and Renato Lima in straight sets (21-15, 21-16) to claim their first world title. Brazilians Andre Loyola and George Wanderley took bronze.

The Beach Volley Vikings on top of the podium alongside two duos from Brazil

Meanwhile, the women’s competition saw Brazil back on top for the sixth time in history, and for the first time since 2015, with Eduarda Santos Lisboa and Ana Patricia Ramos (Duda and Ana Patricia) claiming gold.

Duda and Ana Patricia lift Brazil’s sixth World Championship trophy

The duo recorded eight consecutive victories which culminated in a straight set (21-17, 17-16) victory over Canada’s Sophie Bukovec and Brandie Wilkerson. The German duo of Svenja Muller and Cinja Tillmann took bronze to complete the podium. For all of these six players it was their first World Championship podium.

FIVB Beach Volleyball U19 World Championships

2022 also saw future beach volleyball talent come together for the FIVB Beach Volleyball U19 World Championships in Dikili, Türkiye from 14-18 September. The competition was also streamed live on the Beach Volleyball World YouTube channel.

The U19 World Championship women’s podium

In the women’s event, Ukraine’s Yeva Serdiuk and Daria Romaniuk triumphed without losing a single set enroute to the top of the podium. The 18-year-olds overcame the USA’s Myriah Massey and Ashley Pater to deny the American’s gold, but 16-year-old Massey or 17-year-old Pater can still be proud of earning their first international podium spot. 17-year-old Canadians Emma Glagau and Ruby Sorra earnt bronze to complete the podium.

The U19 World Championship men’s podium

Meanwhile, in the men’s event, 17-year-olds Kristians Fokerots and Gustavs Auzins emerged victorious in an all-Latvian final against Olivers Bulgacs and Davis Teteris. Defending 2021 champions Arthur Canet and Teo Rotar of France settled for bronze to earn their country’s second U19 world medal.