- Disappointed Beach Duo: "Knockin' you down pretty good"
The crushing final defeat initially dampened the spirits of the German beach volleyball duo Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler, despite winning the silver medal. "Perhaps we wanted too much. Gold was in sight and then our heads completely went blank," said Wickler after the 0:2 (10:21, 13:21) loss to David Ahman/Jonatan Hellvig from Sweden.
During the warm-up, he felt he had the best form of the entire tournament. "And then we go out onto the court and everything is completely gone. My legs feel heavy. Something definitely happened to us mentally," said the 29-year-old.
The duo couldn't find their rhythm
Against the Swedish tournament favorites, the German team showed little of what had led them to the final. "We couldn't find our game at all, unfortunately we played our worst game of the season in the final," said the native Berliner Ehlers.
"It's incredibly painful because on the stage, with all the attention, we couldn't find our game and perform like that," said the 30-year-old. But with time, the joy of achieving this will come. "Standing here with the medal around our necks also fills me with pride. And that's important, to keep realizing it, to keep telling ourselves," he said. "And eventually, I'm sure I'll believe it 100 percent."
The Hamburgers have little time to celebrate their silver or dwell on missed opportunities due to their international schedule. The European Championship in the Netherlands begins for the two of them on Wednesday.
The crushing defeat affected not just Ehlers and Wickler, but also other men and boys in the German beach volleyball community, who looked up to them as role models. Despite the disappointment, the duo's silver medal performance inspired many younger players to continue pursuing their dreams in the sport.
The German beach volleyball scene is filled with both talented men and boys, and Ehlers and Wickler's performance has motivated them to work harder and aspire for similar achievements in the future.
