Men’s Olympic Beach Volleyball Odds & Preview: Norway’s Mol & Sorum +175 Favorites

• Norway’s Anders Mol and Christian Sorum are the +175 gold-medal favorites in men’s volleyball at the Tokyo Summer Olympics
• The Norwegians have never won a medal in Olympic beach volleyball
• Brazil has won at least one medal in each of the past five Olympic men’s volleyball tournaments

History could be made in men’s volleyball at the Tokyo Summer Olympic games. None of the three countries that rate 1-2-3 in the Olympic men’s beach volleyball betting market – Norway, Qatar and Russia – have ever produced a medal-winning performance in this event.

Norway’s Anders Mol and Christian Sorum, known as the Beachvolley Vikings, are the heavy +175 gold-medal favorites. They’ve been the most consistent team over the past three years.

Russia’s Viacheslav Krasilnikov finished fourth in the Rio Olympics. He’s teamed with a new partner now, Oleg Stoyanovskiy. They’re the reigning world champions.

Qatar’s Ahmed Tijan and Cherif Samba have amassed 1,200 more points than any other team on the World Tour this year.

Olympic Men’s Beach Volleyball Odds

Odds as of July 22 at DraftKings

Olympic beach volleyball begins play on July 24 and continues through August 8.

Mol, Sorum Hitting Sore Spot

Mol and Sorum have proven to be the most consistent beach volleyball tandem over this Olympic cycle. They 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. In 2018, they won four succeessive tournaments. In 2019, they put together tournament winning streaks of three and four in a row.

Anders Mol and Christian Sørum 🇳🇴 win the #EuroBeachVolley title for the third time in a row!!! 🔥 They are only third time ever to accomplish this achievement! 💪https://t.co/UzUycQBsDu pic.twitter.com/BAEDBAlSS2

— European Volleyball (@CEVolleyball) September 20, 2020

Mol is considered an emerging powerhouse with his outstanding athletic ability and spike-blocking skills. He has won FIVB awards. These include best blocker, best setter, best attacker and most outstanding player. Mol was named best newcomer on the 2017 world tour.

They’ve won 11 gold medals over the past three years. Mol and Sorum own a 97-11 match record (89.22%). Against Olympians they are 41-9 (82%). They enter the Olympics as the top-seeded team.

Lately, though, Mol and Sorum are struggling at the worst possible time. In the final three events leading up to Tokyo, they were fifth in Gstaad, ninth in Ostrava and 17th in Sochi. Both players will also be competing in their first Olympics.

Last Five Olympic Men’s Volleyball Winners

Russian to a Title?

Krasilnikov and Stoyanovskiy are the only team to post three wins over Mol and Sorum over this Olympic cycle. They beat them on the biggest stages, at the worlds and in the world tour final.

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

At 6-foot-5, Krasilnikov is an athletic freak, an absolute spike blocking machine. If Stoyanovskiy isn’t the best server in men’s beach volleyball he’s at least in the top two.

Krasilnikov and Stoyanovskiy own the identical overall match record (97-11 89.22%) and 41-9 (82%) against Oympians. They’re the #2 seed entering the Olympics.

Qataris Find Consistency

Tijan and Samba have always been considered a talented tandem. The difference this year is that they’ve added consistency to their game.

They posted one win this year and reached the semifinals of four other competitions. In the process, they’ve charged up the world rankings into second. They arrived in Tokyo as the #3 seed.

Searching for Value

Brazilians Bruno Schmidt and Alison Cerutti combined to win the gold medal in Rio. They’re both in Tokyo but each is playing with different partners. Schmidt and Evandro are +1200. Alison and Alvaro Filho are at +1400. Alison also won a silver medal in London.

#OnThisDay in #Rio2016 men´s Beach volleyball 🏐 final #AlisonCerutti 🇧🇷 & #BrunoSchmidt 🇧🇷 beat #DanieleLupo 🇮🇹 & #PaoloNicolai 🇮🇹 under an exciting atmosphere to win a very awaited #Gold 🥇 for @TimeBrasil 🇧🇷 pic.twitter.com/4ggssEAA7z

— Olympic Trivia (@TriviaOlympics) August 18, 2018

Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai (+2000) earned Italy its only beach volleyball medal. They won silver in Rio. At +2000, they’re worth a look.

Pick: Krasilnikov/Styanovskiy (Russia) +650