Australia’s women’s and men’s beach volleyball teams each secured quota spots for the LA28 Olympic Games, after winning gold overnight at the 2026 AVC Beach Volleyball Continental Championships.
As part of the new format for Olympic qualification, the Asian Championships served as the first opportunity for teams to qualify quotas for the LA Olympic Games, with one quota place per gender allocated to the nation that won gold at the Continental Championships.
Triple Olympian Taliqua Clancy (Qld) and new partner Stefie Fejes (NSW) secured the women’s quota spot, after a strong win over host country China 2:0 (22-20; 21-16).
Clancy, who claimed her sixth Asian Beach Volleyball Championship gold medal, was thrilled that her and Fejes were able to not only take home the win but also secure Australia’s spot for the LA Olympics.
“I’m really just so excited. Even though this was my sixth win it feels as exciting as my first, and to do it with Stefie was just really special.
“We haven’t had the smoothest preparation coming into this event, but we just maintained our resilience and took it one game at a time,” she said.
Under the new Olympic qualification system, Australia has locked in its quota spot almost two years out from the Games, a certainty Clancy said is really special.
“Honestly it’s so surreal to have the spot confirmed already. Every Olympic cycle there is always something different, something that changes and this new change, well it’s good to know we got that part of the job done.
“To have the men’s spot confirmed too is honestly incredible,” she said.
The Australian men’s Olympic quota spot was guaranteed heading into Sunday’s super final, with both Australia’s men’s teams advancing to the gold medal playoff.
Paris team mates Mark Nicolaidis (QLD) & Izac Carracher (NSW) were able to take home the gold medal after edging out fellow countrymen Tom Hodges (VIC) and new partner Ben Hood (QLD).
There was nothing separating the two sides, with the match pushed to a three setter with the final score 2:1 (21-17; 17-21; 15-12).
Nicoladis said to have the certainty of the Olympic spot secured allows them to focus on the next task, which is getting a second men’s team to LA.
“To have the Olympic spot locked in almost two years out is not something we have experienced before.
“But the job is not done… we want to get two [Australian] men’s teams in LA28. We want to increase our world rankings for the seeding and we want to ensure we do everything we can to not just compete, but be competitive and finish on the Olympic podium.
“It’s been a huge year for us. Everything we did was for this one event.
“Now we’ll take a bit of R&R and get ready for the next season, because come 1 November the Olympic rankings commence,” he said.
Volleyball Australia’s beach volleyball programs are supported by the Australian Institute of Sport, FIVB Empowerment Queensland Academy of Sport (women’s program) and South Australia Institute of Sport (men’s program).
Source: volleyball.org.au/blog/olympic-spots-secured-for-australias-beach-volleyball-teams/