At the recent Jurmala Futures event on the Beach Pro Tour, teams supported by FIVB Volleyball Empowerment programs achieved significant success, winning five out of six medals awarded. Represented on the podiums were France, Latvia, and Estonia. France`s Anouk Dupin demonstrated remarkable consistency this season, reaching the podium at every Beach Pro Tour event she has entered so far this year. Her gold medal victory in Jurmala with partner Marine Kinna marked her fourth consecutive medal and second consecutive gold with Kinna.
The women`s competition podium in Jurmala was completed by two Estonian pairs: Eva Liisa Kuivonen & Liisa-Lotta Jurgenson and Liisa Remmelg & Heleene Hollas. In the men`s tournament, teams from the Baltic region swept the medals, much to the delight of the local crowd. Latvians Martins Plavins & Kristians Fokerots took home the gold, while compatriots Aleksandrs Samoilovs & Gustavs Auzins secured the silver. Audrius Knasas & Povilas Piesina from Lithuania claimed the bronze medal.
The French beach volleyball program has received substantial support through FIVB Volleyball Empowerment, including USD 1,077,000 for coach support. Their women`s national teams are currently coached by Youssef Krou. The French Federation has also been provided with USD 5,500 worth of beach volleyball equipment. Similarly, the Estonian Volleyball Federation`s beach volleyball department has benefited from USD 168,000 in FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support for their national teams, who train under the supervision of Olympian Rivo Vesik. Estonia`s beach volleyball program has also received USD 11,500 in equipment.
Anouk Dupin, 22 years old, started her successful season with a gold medal win at the Valencia Futures alongside Saofe Duval. She then secured a silver in Madrid with Alex Merle and a bronze in Battipaglia with Marine Kinna. Partnering with Kinna again in Jurmala last week, she ascended back to the gold medal position. This win marks her fifth overall Beach Pro Tour medal, including a bronze from the 2023 Lille Futures with Ophelie Lusson. For Marine Kinna, her two recent medal finishes with Dupin are her first appearances on the Beach Pro Tour podium.
On their path to the Jurmala final, the fourth-seeded French pair had a perfect record, winning five matches in straight sets. They defeated the second-seeded Estonian duo Remmelg & Hollas 2-0 (21-11, 21-17) in the semifinal. In the gold medal match against Kuivonen & Jurgenson, Dupin & Kinna lost their first set of the tournament but ultimately triumphed with a 2-1 victory (21-18, 16-21, 15-9).
The seventh-seeded Estonian team of Kuivonen & Jurgenson, both 22, also reached the final undefeated through five matches. In their semifinal, they overcame the 14th-seeded Latvians Varvara Brailko & Anete Namike in a tough three-setter, 2-1 (21-15, 20-22, 15-12). This secured their second Beach Pro Tour medal, adding to their bronze from the Spiez Futures last year.
In the third-place match, Remmelg & Hollas defeated Brailko & Namike convincingly with a 2-0 sweep (21-13, 21-16). This earned them their seventh Beach Pro Tour medal and their first bronze, complementing their previous haul of five silvers and one gold.
The Volleyball Federation of Latvia has also received significant support from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment, totaling USD 210,000 for coach support for their beach volleyball national teams, in addition to USD 5,500 worth of equipment.
The top-seeded Latvian men`s pair, consisting of 40-year-old three-time Olympian and London 2012 bronze medalist Martins Plavins and his 20-year-old partner Kristians Fokerots (a 2022 U19 world champion), performed flawlessly throughout the tournament, winning all six matches without dropping a set. In the semifinals, Plavins & Fokerots defeated the sixth-seeded Lithuanians Arnas Rumsevicius & Karolis Palubinskas 2-0 (21-16, 21-14). They secured the gold medal in a tight 2-0 final (25-23, 21-19) against their 14th-seeded compatriots Aleksandrs Samoilovs & Gustavs Auzins.
This gold medal marks the fourth Beach Pro Tour podium finish for the reigning European champions as a duo, including their second gold after the 2023 Warsaw Futures triumph, and their first medal of 2025. Their achievements also include a bronze from the 2024 Rio de Janeiro Elite16. Plavins & Fokertots are coached by Genadijs Samoilovs.
Kristians Fokerots` usual age-group partner, 20-year-old Gustavs Auzins (also a 2022 U19 world champion), teamed up with 40-year-old three-time Olympian Aleksandrs Samoilovs to claim silver in their Beach Pro Tour debut as a pair. They reached the Jurmala final with a five-match winning streak, including a 2-0 victory (21-19, 21-16) in the semifinal against the fifth-seeded Lithuanian duo Audrius Knasas & Povilas Piesina.
In an all-Lithuanian bronze medal match, Knasas & Piesina secured their first Beach Pro Tour podium finish together by defeating Rumsevicius & Palubinskas with a dominant 2-0 score (21-11, 21-9).
A total of 31 women`s teams and 32 men`s teams, representing 22 different national federations, competed at the Jurmala Futures.
Four more Futures events are scheduled to take place this week, from June 19 to 22, in Qidong, China; Ios, Greece; Messina, Italy; and a men`s tournament in Geneva, Switzerland.
Jasper Thornfield 
Finley Blackwood