The Hague 2015, Reinder Nummerdor and Christiaan Varenhorst. Vienna 2017, Alex Horst and Clemens Doppler.
The last two World Championships have both seen home favorites lose in the gold medal match and now Julius Thole and Clemens Wickler are in the final in Hamburg, the blocker is hoping recent history doesn’t repeat itself.
“One journalist told me already, ‘you have a medal already’, and it’s true, we have at least silver, but I can’t think about this right now,” said the Hamburg native. “This event is so big – it’s the biggest outside of the Olympics and it’s here in my home city.
“Now we are in the final we don’t want to end up like Nummerdor/Varenhorst or Doppler/Horst. We will do everything we can to change that.”
If the pair do pull off an incredible victory when they take on number 3 seeds Oleg Stoyanovskiy and Viacheslav Krasilnikov at Sunday lunchtime, Thole, 22, and 24-year-old, Wickler will become the youngest team ever to lift the title.
And after beating a string of top teams en route a dream final on his own patch, Julius believes the support of the home crowd can make a big difference when they take on the in-form Russians in the battle for gold.
“We’ve beaten Brouwer/Meeuwsen, Alison/Alvaro, Lucena/Dalhausser and now Mol/Sørum – every time we had the crowd to thank for being with us,” said Thole. “When you have the support it gives you strength. If you’re on the court in the warm-up there’s no way you can feel weak.
“If you think to yourself ‘okay, I can play well here, we can make these points’ and having that possibility and help of the crowd makes me optimistic we can play another good game in the final.”
Can the Germans pull off a sensational victory in front of a sell-out Red Bull Beach Arena crowd? Find out on Sunday at 2pm CEST. Don’t miss it!
