Anders Mol and Christian Sorum: Our best is yet to come

Dreaming big and achieving big is what Anders Mol and Christian Sorum seem to do best.

The Norwegian beach volleyball duo have won almost everything there is to win in their sport over the past four years.

In 2021 the pair claimed Olympic glory at Tokyo 2020 and followed that up with a world championship crown in Rome in June 2022.

They already have four European titles under their belt, and from 11-21 August they will compete in Munich at the European Championships to defend their title for a history-making fifth time.

But setting records and making history isn't the focus of their career. Speaking with Olympics.com, the pair explained that they simply love what they do and they want to spread their passion for beach volleyball.

"We are humble by nature," Mol says. "I'm from a small town, and I'm always going to be from the small town.

"We just love to play beach volleyball and that's why now have Olympic gold, but we want to do so much more. And now we just continue because we can't look back on our times. We have to do that when we retire. We have so much more to give to the sport."

Winning from the outset

The team known as the Norwegian vikings have been playing together since the end of 2016.

Sorum says: "It was very random that we were put together to play in a European championship for under 22. We had a small camp and our coach, Kare, our coach now who is the father of Anders, put us together. He wanted to see us play because we were two good players that played a lot of big tournaments. We managed to qualify and that was huge for us. We were 18 and 20. It was huge for us.

"Then we beat Russia in the first pool game and they got fourth in the Olympics (Rio 2016) just weeks later. We played really [good] volleyball and ended up with fifth place and that was a huge breakthrough for us.

Since then they have produced victory after victory and earned the title, kings of the court.

As of July 2022, the pair are world champions, Olympic gold medallists, four-time European champions, and FIVB World Tour Finals champions.

The highlight of their career so far?

Mol explains, "It's easy to say the Olympics for sure, because it's been what we have been working for the last five years. So I think winning Olympics in Tokyo is for sure the best and the biggest memory that we have."

But they admit they missed the energy of the crowd. "Hopefully we can do it again in Paris with the audience and with our family," Mol says.

"It's so easy travel from Norway to Paris so hopefully we have a lot of family and friends there. We really want to have a real Olympic experience in Paris. That's the big goal now."

Speaking about their particularly successful 2022 season, Mol couldn't help but smile, but admitted it was far from smooth sailing.

"It's been amazing, but it's been a roller coaster still with our bodies. Christian hasn't really played a tournament without any pain in 2022. But still we're able to play good volleyball, so that's really also a big achievement to do this, not being 100 per cent in the body.

"But that just also shows the mentality that we have on the court. That we always fight even though we haven't had the best preparations or we don't have the best bodies.

"It's been wild, especially with the world championship. That was was the big goal for this year. We had a lot of family coming to Rome and huge Norwegian crowd. They really put their money on the fact we would do good. Some of them just booked tickets for the final. It was really, really amazing to share this whole experience with them. The next goal is for sure to have a tournament in Norway in the future."

For now their next goal is to win a fifth European title in Munich.

"It would be completely crazy to do it five times in a row considering the level and the Europeans have in beach volleyball," Mol Says. "Now the Europeans are really taking over the sport. Europe has some of the top-seeded teams so the level is higher than ever in Europe and the level has never been closer among the teams.

"So considering that, it would be an incredible achievement, of course we are aiming for that. We really want to stay reigning European champions.

"We are reigning European champions, World champions and Olympic champions. That is really nice to be able to say. So we really want to keep that title and keep that throne on the Norwegian side."

The recipe to a successful relationship

The pair believe their court relationship stems from a solid friendship off it.

"It's really unique the relationship that we have together," Mol says.

Mol continues: "Luckily, we are really, really good friends. That's also what makes our team so special that we can always be honest with each other and share ideas and if we have anything bad to say that we just do it instantly.

"That's what makes us really good as well, that we are so connected on and off the court.

"Our relationship is really unique and I know that not all teams have it like this. We have heard a lot of stories about team mates really hating each other and not being together and sleeping in different rooms. I just imagine that this would be so difficult to work and play with a person that you don't really like. So me and Christian are best friends and hopefully we can continue this relationship. It's a forced marriage but a really good one as well."

Sorum agrees the feeling is mutual and confesses they even holiday together.

He explains, "We had a small vacation in November in South Africa, we also brought the beach volleyball and we were playing and having games. The fact we went on vacation together, that's also kind of crazy. As for the other beach volleyball players, they're like, you went on vacation together, you travelled 280 (days) together a year and then you go on vacation.

"And it just shows that we are good friends that love to play beach volleyball."

Role models and Norwegian inspiration

Being role models and inspiring the next generation of beach volleyball players is something they care about. Giving back to the sport that they say has given them so much.

Sorum says, "I think it's a big part of being an athlete. In the top level you have that responsibility and to be a good role model for others. Because you can see early in the Olympics and you can see how many people follow, and kids.

"Especially now they have their phones with them all the time. They watch videos from this film or Instagram or whatever from a really young age. So they are kind of into this world so early. And so it's important to to have good role models and to be a good example and to show what's right and what's okay to do."

Sorum is a big believer in being authentic.

"As an athlete it looks like you have a perfect life, also have bad days and you have to talk about this because everyone has it. And on Instagram, everything looks perfect.

"I think it's important to show the bad days and to show that everyone is human and it's okay to feel crappy, to have bad days."

Future goals: Paris, LA and Brisbane

With one Olympic gold under their belt, the pair and not shy about what they want to achieve in the future.

As Tokyo 2020 was delayed a year and took place in 2021, they're excited to capitalise on the shorter time frame between Games.

"It's only three years to wait, so for us, it's perfect," Mol says.

"We feel like we were on a good roll. We feel like we're in good shape, and we still have a high level so the Olympics can come as soon as possible for us because we also are getting older. Yeah, we're getting more injured.

"We want to play again at the Olympics and do good. We have a really nice Olympics coming up with Paris and then it's LA and then Brisbane. So it's got a couple of really nice cities to play in and we really want to be a part of all of them and our goal is also to get more (Norwegian) beach volleyball teams to to be a part of it, not only us, but also women's teams."