Austria Wins Dakar 2026 Boys' Beach Volleyball Gold
Hohenauer and Poinstingl beat German top seeds Hüper and Wüst 2-1 in the Youth Olympic final in Saly, Senegal.
Updated on Nov. 4, 2026 in Volleyball
Paul Hohenauer and Martin Poinstingl of Austria won the boys' beach volleyball title at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, defeating Lasse Hüper and Filo Wüst of Germany 2-1 (22-20, 13-21, 15-12) in the final. Ryan Edgar and Thomas Turner of Australia took bronze after beating Brazil's Campos and Souza 2-0.
Why it matters
The result marks a win for Austria over the tournament's top-seeded pair and highlights the depth of the youth beach volleyball field at the Games. Hohenauer and Poinstingl won all seven of their matches, dropping only two sets along the way.
The final was decided by a 2-1 score, with Hohenauer and Poinstingl winning the deciding set 15-12 after losing the second set 13-21. Hohenauer and Poinstingl won all seven of their matches, dropping only two sets, while Edgar and Turner finished 6-1.
The players
Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games
The multi-sport youth event held in Dakar, Senegal, featuring beach volleyball competition at the Saly venue.
Paul Hohenauer
Austrian beach volleyball player who won the boys' gold medal alongside Martin Poinstingl at Dakar 2026.
Martin Poinstingl
Austrian beach volleyball player who won the boys' gold medal alongside Paul Hohenauer at Dakar 2026.
Lasse Hüper
German beach volleyball player who took silver with Filo Wüst after being the tournament's top seeds.
Ryan Edgar
Australian beach volleyball player who took bronze alongside Thomas Turner at Dakar 2026.
The details
Hohenauer and Poinstingl topped Pool B with a 3-0 record before beating Nicaragua 2-0 in the Round of 16, Chile 2-0 in the quarterfinals, and Australia's Edgar and Turner 2-0 in the semifinals. Edgar and Turner topped Pool C with a 3-0 record and edged out Congo's Sakeni Jonathan and Nzazi Mutendi 2-1 in the Round of 16 before winning bronze.
Timeline
Boys' beach volleyball final held Wednesday at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games.
Edgar and Turner won gold at the Asian U18 Beach Volleyball Championships in May.
Hüper and Wüst won the FIVB U18 World Championship in The Hague in July.
Season Trajectory
Edgar and Turner's Dakar bronze came after they took silver at the FIVB U18 Beach Volleyball World Championship in July and gold at the Asian U18 Championships in May. Hüper and Wüst's silver followed their FIVB U18 World Championship title in The Hague, placing the Dakar final within a sustained run of youth international results.
Austria's win moves the boys' beach volleyball title to a new national champion, and Edgar and Turner's 6-1 record leaves Australia with a bronze-medal finish. Fantasy and youth-circuit followers can track these pairs' results in future FIVB U18 events.
The takeaway
The Dakar result shows that the top seed does not always reach the final, with Austria's pair going through the tournament without losing a match in its early rounds. Readers following youth volleyball can use the pool records and set counts to gauge which pairs are building momentum before the next international event.
Further reading
Explore more Volleyball coverage for context on the youth and international circuits behind this result.
Source note: This article includes information reported by FIVB.
