Women’s Olympic Beach Volleyball Gold and Bronze Medal Odds & Picks
- Americans April Ross and Alix Klineman are the -205 favorites over Australia’s Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar in the women’s beach volleyball gold medal match on Thursday, April 5
- Teams from the USA have won three of the past four Olympic women’s beach volleyball gold medals
- Switzerland’s Joana Heidrich and Anouk Vergé-Dépré are the -160 betting choice to win the bronze medal match over Latvia’s Anastasija Kravcenoka and Tina Graudina
April Ross is a golden moment away from completing the set. Already with silver and bronze medals in Olympic women’s beach volleyball competition, American Ross and teammate Alix Klineman will play for gold on Thursday against the young Australian duo of Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar.
The USA tandem is the -205 betting choice to win the match and give the Americans their fourth gold medal in the past five Olympics.
Switzerland’s Joana Heidrich and Anouk Vergé-Dépré will play Latvia’s Anastasija Kravcenoka and Tina Graudina in the bronze medal match. The Swiss are the -160 favorites to come away with the medal.
Action is slated to get underway on Thursday with the bronze medal match at 9 pm ET. The gold-medal match will follow 90 minutes later.
Olympic Women’s Beach Volleyball Gold Medal Match Odds
| Match | Odds |
|---|---|
| Artacho Del Solar/Clancy (AUS) | +155 |
| Ross/Klineman (USA) | -205 |
Odds as of August 5 at DraftKings
Not only has Ross won three Olympic medals, but she’s also won each with a different partner. In 2012, teamed with Jennifer Kessy, they lost the gold medal match to Misty May Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings. Four years later and now paired with Walsh Jennings, she settled for a bronze. No player has won medals of all three colors in Olympic women’s beach volleyball.
Ross and Klineman have played like champions throughout the tournament. They are 6-0 and have dropped only one set along the way. The Americans made short work of their Swiss opposition in their semifinal match. Ross and Klineman beat Verge-Depre and Heidrich 21-12, 21-11. The match lasted just 38 minutes.
"We were just fired up."@AprilRossBeach and @alixklineman advance to the gold medal match. #TokyoOlympics pic.twitter.com/iKUntqjaay
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) August 5, 2021
The young Australians are also playing stellar volleyball. They’re 5-1 and have dropped three sets. Clancy and Artacho del Solar were Commonwealth Games finalists in 2018. They came into the Olympics ranked 17th in the world.
Both Clancy and Artacho del Solar participated in the 2016 Summer Games in Rio with different partners. Neither made it past the quarterfinals. In fact, Clancy’s team lost to Ross and Walsh Jennings.
Clancy and Artacho del Solar and Ross and Klineman hold an interesting history against each other. They’ve met five times previously. The Australians were the winners in three of those five matches. Two of five meetings between the two teams went the full three sets.
They have done it!!!
They are into the GOLD Medal match! 🥇🥈
Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy… we love you! 💛💚@SamsungAU | #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/q7Wcr74I2m
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) August 5, 2021
Australia’s most recent women’s Olympic beach volleyball medal was the gold won by Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst at Sydney in 2000. Australia has won two medals in woman’s beach volleyball.
The USA has won six Olympic women’s beach volleyball medals, including three golds.
Pick: April Ross/Alix Klineman (USA) -205
Olympic Women’s Beach Volleyball Bronze Medal Match Odds
| Match | Odds |
|---|---|
| Kravcenoka/Graudina (LAT) | +120 |
| Heidrich/Verge-Depre (SUI) | -160 |
Heidrich and Anouk Vergé-Dépré are the reigning 2020 European champions. Both have been to the Olympics, albeit with different partners. They’re 4-2 in Tokyo and have dropped seven sets. This is the first time Switzerland will be playing for a medal in women’s beach volleyball.
Latvia was the only country to have teams in both the men’s and women’s semifinals. Kravcenoka and Graudina are 4-2 in Tokyo and have lost six sets. They were swept by Clancy and Artacho del Solar in the semifinals.
April Ross will get a chance to win her first Olympic gold medal, after she and partner Alix Klineman defeated the Swiss pair between Anouk Vergé-Dépré and Joana Heidrich 21–12, 21–11 in straight sets in the women's beach volleyball semi-finals.#Tokyo2020 #UnitedByEmotion pic.twitter.com/uFXHWDWRWZ
— Archive (@ArchiveInt) August 5, 2021
Heidrich and Anouk Vergé-Dépré and Kravcenoka and Graudina have met twice previously, both matches coming in 2019. The Swiss duo won on each occasion but both contests were hard-fought affairs with one match going three sets.
MONSTER BLOCKS by Joana Heidrich.
She and her partner Anouk Verge-Depre 🇨🇭 are our @fivbbeach Team Of The Week.#FIVBTOTW STORY: https://t.co/UafIojGwAZ#BeachVolleyball pic.twitter.com/p1iDMfcDKf
— Volleyball World (@volleyballworld) June 19, 2020
At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Heidrich and Anouk Vergé-Dépré both played with different partners. Heidrich reached the quarterfinals.
Latvia has never won an Olympic medal in women’s beach volleyball.
Pick: Joana Heidrich and Anouk Vergé-Dépré (SUI) -160.
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.
