Brazilians Bárbara Seixas and Carol Salgado continue unstoppable on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour and secured their second-straight title in the season this week, winning the Edmonton Challenge, in Canada, on Sunday.

Just seven days after their triumph at the Espinho Challenge, in Portugal, the two repeated their journey to the top of the podium at the Fan Park, standing higher than second-placed Italians Marta Menegatti and Valentina Gottardi and third-placed Czechs Barbora Hermannová and Marie-Sara Štochlova.

• Beach Pro Tour Edmonton Challenge matches are available on demand on VBTV

In order to win their second title in the season and the fourth in two years, the 35-year-old Brazilians downed Menegatti and Gottardi in the two-set (21-14, 21-16) gold medal match in Edmonton, capping off a perfect week in Canada, which saw them win all their six matches and not drop any sets in the tournament.

“Coming straight from Espinho, we got here really tired, but we put our hearts on the court here because we love playing and we enjoy it so much,” Carol said. “It’s been a pleasure to play with Bárbara, we have so much fun together. We just wanted to thank everyone that works with us and cheers for us.”

Bárbara, a Rio 2016 Olympic silver medalist, and Carol have also won a pair of Beach Pro Tour Challenge tournaments in the 2022 season, topping the podium in Tlaxcala, Mexico, and Doha, Qatar. They have now eight medals (four gold, three silver, one bronze) in 19 Beach Pro Tour events as partners.

The Brazilians, who entered the event at the top of the Provisional Olympic Ranking and now added another 800 points to their total, are undefeated in their last 12 Beach Pro Tour matches, having lost just two of the 26 sets they played in the period.

“We’re really proud because these results show that we’re headed in the right direction,” Bárbara reflected. “There are no secrets, we’ve put a lot of work to make it happen. We’re competing for an Olympic berth and the level is really high, so we are giving our best every day and trying to improve in every way we can. To see now that we just won these two golds, it’s really rewarding for us. It also helps us build our confidence, which is really important.”

**Beach Pro Tour Edmonton Challenge – Results**

The winners of last year’s Dubai Challenge, Hermannová and Štochlová made their first podium appearance on the Beach Pro Tour 2023 this week in Edmonton. The Czechs won a thrilling three-set (17-21, 26-24, 15-13) bronze medal match against Swiss Zoé Vergé-Dépré and Esmée Böbner to finish third in Canada.

The two, who started the tournament in the qualifier on Thursday, had a long journey in Edmonton, playing eight matches in four days and winning six of them.

“We played some really difficult matches on the qualifier and could have even left the tournament in the first round, so to have the bronze medals now, it’s amazing,” Hermannová commented. “Marie-Sara also twisted her ankle in our second match and she pushed through it, which makes me even prouder of what we did. I was really tired in the bronze medal match, but our coach kept telling us to play as if we were playing for the Olympics and that every point mattered and it worked.”

The Beach Pro Tour remains in Canada for another week, moving now to Montréal, the city that will host next week’s Elite16 tournament from Wednesday to Sunday.

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