DHe was disappointed”, admitted Laura Ludwig After ending her Olympic dream in Tokyo, “but luck is greater than everything.” The Rio Olympic champion was satisfied with her and her partner Margarita Kozuk’s overall performance at the 2021 Beach Volleyball Championship: “ We have great games,” she said, almost beaming: “We had a great time.”
A total of two victories, one win without a fight, and two losses are not enough to enter the medal match, because some small things at the top of the world’s elite are quite different. In the quarter-finals of the Tokyo match, Ludwig/Kozuk lost to two Americans, Alix Klineman and April Ross, 19:21 and 19:21. This is an unforgettable equal duel between two teams with similar structures. Like Laura Ludwig, 39-year-old April Ross has been one of the decisive figures in the beach scene for more than a decade. She was a world champion in 2009 and won Olympic silver and bronze medals in 2012 and 2016. In contrast, her partner Alexandra Klineman (Alexandra Klineman) and Margareta Kozuch (Margareta Kozuch) played indoor volleyball until 2017 and was a member of the U.S. National Team Recognized players and outside players.
However, on the beach, Kleiman/Ross formed a good team faster than Ludwig/Kozuch. In 2019, they won the silver medal together in the World Cup in Hamburg, and recently they also showed themselves as a well-trained duo on the beach of Tokyo Shiokaze Park. They advanced to the semi-finals of the Olympic Games with five wins and only one loss. They will meet European champions Johanna Heydrich/Anuk Verger-Depree from Switzerland on Thursday.
At this time, Laura Ludwig and Margareta Kozuch will once again set foot on their way home. Because in accordance with the 48-hour rule, the eliminated athletes must leave the country during this time. Of course, before they leave, they have another date: Laura Ludwig announced at 2:00 PM CEST on Wednesday: “We are going to make the boys scream forward” FAZ Olympics live broadcast, On ARD and Eurosport) When Julius Thor and Clemens Wikler were the last representatives of German beach volleyball, with Russian world champions Vyacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovsky When starting a contest.
Whether she will pick up the game ball in the Olympics is a question of whether she will pick up the game ball in Tokyo: “Paris is a beautiful city,” said the flag bearer of the opening ceremony of the Olympia Olympics this year. The choice in 2024 and the joy of seeing her three-year-old son Teo outweighed the anger at the early end of the Olympics. “My heart is crying and I want to go home,” said the 35-year-old. Since her comeback, she has regarded herself as a champion in the dual roles of mother and high-performance athlete. “I really look forward to Teo: This is the other side of the coin.”
