BEACH VOLLEYBALL: Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar have won their fifth World Tour gold medal at the four-star Warsaw event in Poland over the weekend.

It is the duo’s ninth overall ninth podium on the World Tour, after they won 6 of their 7 matches in Warsaw.

They won the final in two straight sets (22-20, 21-17) against USA’s Emily Stockman and Kelley Larsen.

The gold medal match started off in a fierce battle for every point. In the middle of the first set, 11th-seeded Stockman and Larsen managed a small lead and sustained to a double set point.

However, fifth-seeded Clancy and Artacho del Solar mounted a furious comeback and scored four in a row to take the set. Riding the momentum, the Australians started widening the gap in the second set to reach six consecutive match points.

The Americans did not give up and fought off the first three. On the fourth, a tip of the block by Artacho put an end to it all.

“The set is not over until the last whistle. We stuck strong together, we kept fighting every point and we kept hustling,” Artacho del Solar commented on the great comeback at the end of the first set of the final.

“It was really good teamwork and really good patience from us and we just trusted the process.”

Clancy said they will now turn their attention to the World Championships in Hamburg from 28 June.

“We are going into the World Championship with the same mentality – point by point, game by game,” Clancy said.

“I am so excited to go back to Hamburg. It’s such a great event and it would be amazing to be in the same position we are today.”

Earlier in the day, the 2018 Commonwealth Games silver medallists defeated Brazil’s 13th-seeded Maria Antonelli and Carolina Solberg Salgado in the semi-final 2-0 (21-17, 21-16).

It was an all-Brazil battle for the bronze medal with second-seeded Agatha Bednarczuk & Eduarda Santos Lisboa coming out the eventual winner.

FIVB / olympics.com.au