Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy are gunning for gold in Tokyo as they take on the US pair of April Ross and Alix Klineman in the final of the Tokyo 2020 beach volleyball tournament on Friday at 12.30pm AEST.
The teams have already battled twice this year in the Cancun bubble tournaments, splitting their results as they met in two of the three tournaments held across April and May 2021.
The Australians won the most recent matchup in straight sets in the semi-final of the third Cancun event, while the Americans won 2-1 in the quarter-finals in tournament two.
Ross and Klineman are undefeated so far in Tokyo, going unbeaten through their pool stage before dispatching Cuba, Germany and Switzerland in straight sets in the round of 16, quarter and semi-finals respectively.
Artacho del Solar is keeping focused on not letting the magnitude of tomorrow’s match affect the team’s processes.
“We’ve dreamt of this moment for many years and it's just so unreal that we are actually only one step away from that result,” Artacho said. “But the job’s not done yet, we’ve got one more to go.”
“We’ll try to treat it like it’s just another game, even though it’s not – it’s the beautiful life of an athlete. It feels so so exciting, we’ve been working so hard to get in this position, it’s so nice it’s actually become a reality.
“We’ve had some really good matches against these US girls, tomorrow will be the same, and we’re ready.”
Clancy agreed, adding they are honoured to follow in the footsteps of Aussie greats and to potentially inspire the next generation.
“It’s going to be awesome, this is the moment we’ve been waiting for really,” Clancy said. “It’s exciting to have another opportunity to play our best volleyball and to show the world what we can do.”
“Nat Cook and Kerri Pottharst have helped give us that full belief that they had. They saw that gold medal mentality in us and they knew that we could do it. That's the main thing that Kerri and Nat have always pumped into us, and now we’re in our own gold medal match.
“My journey started from watching Cathy Freeman at the Sydney Olympics, that was me as an 8-year-old. That was where my dream started, so it’s fantastic to think that we now have the opportunity to inspire the future generation,” proud Wulli Wulli woman Clancy said.
“And it’s not just athletes, I’m so proud to represent my people, to show them that everything is possible. I'm so proud of who I am and to be able to give back to my community. I want to let all my people feel the same way I am feeling now.”
The final starts at 12.30pm AEST at Shiokaze Park, you can watch live and free on Seven and 7plus.
