Men’s Olympic Beach Volleyball Odds & Predictions – Gold & Bronze Medal Games
- Norway’s Anders Mol and Christian Sorum are the -200 favorites in the gold-medal match against Russians Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovskiy for men’s volleyball at the Tokyo Summer Olympics on Friday, August 6
- The Norwegians are guaranteed to win their first medal in Olympic beach volleyball
- Latvia’s Martins Plavins and Edgars Tocs and Qatar’s Ahmed Tijan and Cherif Younousse will battle for the bronze medal
When the Olympic men’s beach volleyball tournament got underway, Norway’s Anders Mol and Christian Sorum were being pegged as the team to beat for the gold medal. They are one victory away from living up to that billing.
The Norwegians will face the Russian tandem of Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovskiy for the gold medal. They upset Qatar’s previously unbeaten tandem of Ahmed Tijan and Cherif Younousse in the semifinals.
Sorum and Mol are the -200 favorites to win the gold-medal match. Tijan and Younousse are the -600 betting choice to win bronze.
The form charts have held fairly firm throughout this tournament. Beyond Sorum and Mol, Krasilnikov and Stoyanovskiy were the third betting choice in the opening outrights to win gold in Tokyo. Tijan and Younousse slotted in at #2 in the opening odds.
The one outlier still in the medal hunt are Latvia’s Martins Plavins and Edgars Tocs. The second team in the bronze medal match, they were 17th in the opening odds at +8000.
The bronze medal match is at 9:00 pm ET on Friday, August 6. The gold medal match follows at 10:30 pm.
Olympic Men’s Beach Volleyball Gold Medal Odds
| Match | Odds |
|---|---|
| Mol/Sorum (NOR) | -200 |
| Krasilnikov/Stoyanovskiy (ROC) | +150 |
Odds as of August 6 at Bet365
Mol and Sorum were at their efficient best as they overcame Plavins and Tocs 21-15, 21-16 in their semifinal match. They grabbed a 5-1 lead in the first game and really never looked back.
Mol delivered 10 blocks among the 42 points scored by the Norwegians.
"We're getting goosebumps! We are just realising we are Olympic medallists."
Mol/Sorum 🇳🇴 and Krasilnikov/Stoyanovskiy will play an all-European final in #Tokyo2020📸 @BeachVBWorld #UnitedByEmotion #StrongerTogether #BeachVolleyball pic.twitter.com/nLXsFu5aiV
— European Volleyball (@CEVolleyball) August 5, 2021
The Norwegians are reigning three-time European champions. They’re the first team to win the Euro tourney three years in a row. Mol and Sorum also won the 2018 World Tour finals and the $75,000 purse that goes with it.
They’ve won 11 tournament titles over the past three years. In 2019, they put together tournament winning streaks of three and four in a row. They won four succeessive tournaments during the 2018 season.
However, when they’ve faced Krasilnikov and Stoyanovskiy on the sand, the outcome has proven to be a 50-50 proposition. In six previous matches, each squad shows three wins. In fact, the last match that Mol and Sorum played prior to arriving in Tokyo was a 2-0 loss to the Russian tandem at a FIVB tournament in Gstaad.
Congratulations to Russia! 🇷🇺
Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovskiy power themselves to World Champs glory and with it take a ticket to Tokyo! 🥇
Well done, boys! pic.twitter.com/J289VFw7YT
— Beach Volleyball Majors (@BeachMajors) July 7, 2019
Krasilnikov and Stoyanovskiy are the only team to post three wins over Mol and Sorum during this Olympic cycle. They’ve beaten them on the biggest stages, at the worlds and in the world tour final. Krasilnikov and Stoyanovskiy won the most recent world title in 2019. Sorum and Mol settled for the bronze medal.
However, Krasilnikov and Stoyanovskiy have never won consecutive matches from Mol and Sorum.
Pick: Anders Mol and Christian Sorum (-200)
Olympic Men’s Beach Volleyball Bronze Medal Odds
| Match | Odds |
|---|---|
| Plavins/Tocs (LAT) | +350 |
| Tijan/Younousse (QAT) | -600 |
Tijan and Younousse carried an unblemished record into their semifinal match with Krasilnikov and Stoyanovskiy. It was the Russians who carried the day, though. They were 21-19, 21-17 straight set winners. It was their first match victory over the Qatari tandem since 2019.
The Olympics marks the fifth tournament this year that Tijan and Younousse have reached the semifinal stage. That includes one tournament victory. The Latvians came into the Olympic tournament as the 23rd seed. They are situated 15th in the FIVB world rankings.
Qatar’s Cherif Younousse and Tijan Ahmed go down in the beach volleyball semifinal at the Tokyo Olympics Games, losing 19-21, 17-21 to ROC’s Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovskiy, on Thursday. pic.twitter.com/qVedxjhpuY
— Inside Qatar (@Insideqataroffl) August 5, 2021
These teams have met three times on the sand courts. Tijan and Younousse won two of those matches, sweeping to victory both times. The one win by Plavins and Tocs was a three-set affair.
Plavins and Tocs took out both Brazilian teams on their route to the semis, including No.3-ranked Alison Cerutti and Alvaro Filho, as well as Bruno Schmidt and Evandro. The two Brazilian teams they toppled contained both 2016 Olympic gold medalists, playing with new partners. Alison Cerutti and Bruno Schmidt teamed to win gold in Rio.
Plavins is a bronze medallist at London 2012, but with a different partner.
Pick: Ahmed Tijan and Cherif Younousse (-600)
An industry veteran, Bob literally taught the course on the history of sports at Elder College. He has worked as a Sports Columnist for Postmedia, appeared as a guest on several radio stations, was the Vice President of the Society For International Hockey Research in Ontario, and written 25 books.
