Latvia's Auziņš/Fokerots reach semifinals of European U-22 Beach Volleyball Championship

Latvian beach volleyball duo Gustavs Auziņš and Kristians Fokerots secured a semifinal spot at the European U-22 Championship in Madrid on Saturday. Seeded second in the tournament, the pair beat Finland's brothers Veeti and Konsta Viljami, ranked 18th, 2-0 (21:14, 21:16) in the quarterfinals. Earlier, in the round of 16, the Latvians defeated Italy's Gabriele da Costa and Matteo Marchesano, ranked 23rd, by the same 2-0 scoreline (21:14, 21:17).

Another Latvian pair, Līva Ēbere and Deniela Konstantinova, was set to play their own quarterfinal match in Madrid later that evening.

A strong track record

Auziņš and Fokerots rank among the most successful competitors in youth beach volleyball in recent years. In 2022 they won both the European U-18 Championship in Greece and the World U-19 Championship in Turkey. In 2024 the pair triumphed at the European U-20 Championship in Poland, and a year later took first place at the World U-21 Championship in Mexico. The European U-22 title is the only one the duo has yet to claim at youth level — last year, in this age category, Fokerots partnered with Oliver Bulgach but lost the final to a French pair.

Ēbere and Konstantinova have twice won silver at the European U-20 Championship (2022 and 2024) and finished third in the U-22 category in 2024.

Latvia's history in the event

Until 2012, this European youth championship category was contested in the under-23 age group before switching to U-22. Latvian athletes have won 13 medals in the competition overall, including four golds. At the very first edition, held in Greece in 1999, Inguna Minusa and Inga Ikauniece won the women's title, with Tīna Graudiņa and Anastasija Samoilova repeating the feat in 2016. Among men, Mārtiņš Pļaviņš and Aleksandrs Samoilovs became European U-23 champions in 2005, while in 2018, at a tournament held in Jūrmala, Aleksandrs's brother Mihails Samoilovs won together with Kristaps Šmits.