Lausanne, Switzerland September 2, 2016 – The awards keep coming for recently crowned Rio 2016 Olympic champions Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst, with the German pair now unveiled as one of the nominees for the Sportswoman of the Year team sport award by the Women’s Sports Foundation.
Ludwig and Walkenhorst stormed to gold on Copacabana beach in August, claiming gold by beating Brazil’s Barbara Seixas and Agatha Bednarczuk in the finals on August 18.
The victory – Germany’s first women’s Olympic medal in beach volleyball – emulated the efforts of Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann at the London 2012 men’s tournament and is the first time a European team has stepped on the podium at an Olympic Games.
Having first teamed up in April 2013, the duo have won seven FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour events, including the Klagenfurt and Hamburg Majors, the Olsztyn Grand Slam and the Antalya Open in 2016. They are also two-time European champions having won the last two editions.
"We said, 'We'll take the storm and make our own storm,'" said Ludwig after the final in Rio.
“The more pressure we had, the better we played,” added Walkenhorst.