Bronze in Tokyo 2021 Beach volleyball duo Mäder and Vergé-Dépré part ways after eight years

Beach volleyball players Joana Mäder and Anouk Vergé-Dépré are going their separate ways at the end of the season after eight years. It remains to be seen who they will continue to play with in the future. Neither of them is thinking of retiring.

Mäder/Vergé-Dépré experienced the highlight of their career at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo when they won the bronze medal. Three years later - after injuries and many ups and downs - the big disappointment came when they failed to qualify for Paris.

Now 32-year-old Mäder from Zurich and Vergé-Dépré, who is the same age as her from Bern, are drawing a line under their career together - even if they emphasize in the press release that missing out on the Olympic Games is not the reason for their separation. They had simply made the most of their eight years together. Now it's time for something new.

The two trained blockers came together after the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. They quickly established themselves among the world's elite. In 2019, they won their first tournament at the highest level. This was followed a year later by the European Championship title and finally the Olympic medal.

One year after their success in Tokyo, their career together came to a halt at the World Championships in Rome when Mäder suffered a serious shoulder injury in the bronze medal match, resulting in a long break. The duo fought their way back. In the end, however, it was just not enough to qualify for the Olympics again, as two other Swiss duos, the eventual bronze medalists Tanja Hüberli/Nina Brunner and Esmée Böbner/Zoé Vergé-Dépré, were ranked higher.

The decision to split up had matured over the past few weeks. Mäder/Vergé-Dépré will play three more tournaments together: the European Championships in the Netherlands starting on Tuesday, the tournament in Hamburg and the Swiss Championships in Bern at the end of August.