Block specialist Nils Ehlers made a perfect debut at his Olympic debut.
Photo: imago/Conny Kurth
With a broad grin, Nils Ehlers stood next to his beach volleyball partner Clemens Wickler and gave a few insights into his well-being and his unusual story, which had just experienced its first Olympic highlight. At the foot of the Eiffel Tower, the German duo impressively won their opening match on Tuesday morning against the French Julien Lyneel and Rémi Bassereau in just 43 minutes. And after the 2-0 (21:15, 21:17) Ehlers was able to reveal how much his Olympic debut had preoccupied him.
»Of course I was nervous. “Last week I had another bout of nervousness,” said the 2.10 meter giant. But, he now said with a smile, “Nervousness isn’t always a bad thing. Today before the game I was more nervous than ever before, but then I came out with nine block points. Especially in the first set, the native of Spandau, with his size, successfully placed seven blocks in the French field – as many as he said never before. “That’s really outstanding,” said Ehlers, just as pleased as his partner. “I was able to stand around a bit and let Nils do the work,” joked Wickler.
The very successful start fuels the hopes of the only German men’s duo in the competition for a medal. This is the declared goal of the third in the world rankings, who have increased in consistency in the recent past. This also has a lot to do with Ehlers and its special history. He himself speaks of a “great career.” Eight years ago, the block specialist had just played his debut season in the Volleyball Bundesliga and also played a bit of basketball with a few friends. Beach volleyball only came into focus when he gave up his law studies in the spring of 2017, as well as indoor volleyball and basketball, and moved to Hamburg to devote himself to beach volleyball at the federal base there.
Things had gone less well the evening before for five-time Olympian Laura Ludwig. With her partner Louisa Lippmann, the 38-year-old gold winner from 2016 lost their opening match against the French Alexia Richard and Lezana Placette 0-2 in Rio de Janeiro. “Too little” had been shown, Ludwig was annoyed. It was only towards the end that the Germans found their way into the game better. Before the two more tricky group games against the European champions Nina Brunner and Tanja Hüberli from Switzerland this Wednesday and against the European Championship runners-up Daniela Alvarez and Tania Moreno from Spain, there is already a lot of pressure on the five-time Olympian Ludwig and her partner Lippmann. Unlike the men who said goodbye to their day off on Wednesday morning with a grin.
“Before the game I was more nervous than ever, but then I came out with nine block points.”
Nils Ehlers German beach volleyball player
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