It was worth wondering how Chase Budinger and Miles Evans would respond to it all. The media attention, the most Budinger has ever received in his now very well-documented multi-sport career. The love from LeBron James and Kevin Durant and the rest of Budinger’s peers from his former life as an NBA player. The matchup against the home team, France’s Arnaud Gauthier-Rat and Youssef Krou, in front of 12,000 French fans, in their Olympic debut, the biggest stage in the sport.
It didn’t take long to find out.
Budinger and Evans jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the first and then doubled that margin to 17-7. By the time France showed any signs of life, the first set was out of hand, and even the 21-14 score in which it finished belied how thoroughly dominant the Americans were. The second set was much the same, Budinger and Evans leaving Krou in a futile search for answers — answers he would never find in an eventual 21-11 loss.
Krou’s patented hard angle swing was mostly unavailable, perhaps due to the deep sand at Eiffel Tower Stadium, perhaps due to the lingering effects of an injury that has had him out since they forfeited at the Ostrava Elite16 in early June, perhaps due to Budinger and Evans simply adjusting their defensive strategy against a team that had beaten them in three straight matches coming into Paris.
Or maybe, as it often goes in sports, it was due to those myriad factors mixing for the perfect American cocktail, a 21-14, 21-11 dusting of France’s top team.
Suffice it to say, Chase Budinger and Miles Evans responded to all of the glitz and glamour and pomp and circumstances of these Olympic Games just fine.
Their win makes it three straight for USA beach teams, following sweeps from Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth over Canada’s Sophie Bukovec and Heather Bansley, and Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes over the Czech Republic’s Barbora Hermannova and Marie-Sara Stochlova, all of whom are now 1-0. Only Miles Partain and Andy Benesh have dropped a match, to Cuba’s Jorge Alayo and Noslen Diaz in the opening match of these Olympic Games.
Kloth and Nuss played later Monday.
Budinger and Evans’ next match will be on Tuesday, against the Netherlands’ Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot, the top seed in Pool F who swept Spain’s Adrian Gavira and Pablo Herrera earlier on Monday.
It was only a matter of time before a stunner took place at the base of Eiffel Tower Stadium.
It took just three days.
Qatar’s Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan, bronze medalists of the Tokyo Olympic Games, came back from a 15-21 opening set to rally for a 21-19, 20-18 shocker over the top seed of the Paris Games. The win stops an 18-match win streak for Sweden, and snapped a three-match losing streak for Qatar against the Swedes.
True to form, however, the match went the full three sets, as all six have gone between Qatar and Sweden, two of the best defensive teams in the world. The upset has made a full mess of Pool A, as Qatar, the three seed, is now in the driver’s seat with just one match remaining, against Australia’s Mark Nicolaidis and Izac Carracher, who are 0-2. Sweden will play Italy’s Paolo Nicolai and Sam Cottafava, who are 1-1 thus far, with a loss to Qatar and a win over Australia, both sweeps.
Sam Cottafava, Paolo Nicolai (Italy) def. Mark Nicolaidis, Izac Carracher (Australia) 21-19, 21-19
Stefan Boermans, Yorick de Groot (Netherlands) def. Pablo Herrera, Adrian Gavira (Spain) 21-15, 21-15
Chen Xue, Xinyi Xia (China) def. Sophie Bukovec, Heather Bansley (Canada) 21-15, 21-19
Nina Brunner, Tanja Huberli (Switzerland) def. Daniela Alvarez, Tania Moreno (Spain) 21-12, 21-19
Melissa Humana-Paredes, Brandie Wilkerson (Canada) def. Poletti, Michelle (Paraguay) 21-16, 21-12
Chase Budinger, Miles Evans (USA) defe.Arnaud Gauthier-Rat, Youssef Krou (France) 21-14, 21-11
Esmee Bobner, Zoe Verge-Depre (Switzerland) def. Tina Graudina, Anastasija Samoilova (Latvia) 21-15, 21-14
Cherif Younousse, Ahmed Tijan (Qatar) def. David Ahman, Jonatan Hellvig (Sweden) 15-21, 21-19, 20-18
Lezana Placette, Alexia Richard (France) def. Laura Ludwig, Louisa Lippmann (Germany) 21-14, 22-20
Kristen Nuss, Taryn Kloth (USA) vs. Mariafe Artacho, Taliqua Clancy (Australia)
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