Carracher wins beach volleyball match in Paris

NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS) athlete Izac Carracher and Mark Nicolaidis have been selected for the Australian Olympic team for Paris. It is the first time since Athens 2004 that Australia has two beach volleyball teams at the Olympic Games.

The duo make their Olympic debut under the Eiffel Tower after leaving match points behind in their last two matches against Chinese opponents to win the final of the Asian Continental Cup in China.

Twenty-four years old Caracher and 23-year-old Nicolaidis, along with Olympic silver medalists Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar and men’s debutants Zachery Schubert and Thomas Hodges, complete the Australian beach volleyball team for Paris.

Carracher and Nicolaidis are the second youngest Australian male beach volleyball team to ever compete at the Olympic Games, behind only Julien Prosser and Leo Zahner in Atlanta 1996.

Bronwen Knox, deputy chef for the Australian Olympic team, announced the team in Brisbane, where the pair are finalising their preparations in Australia before travelling to Europe.

“I am delighted to announce Izac and Mark as part of the Australian Olympic team for Paris,” she said.

“When we announced the first four beach volleyball athletes last month, Izac and Mark had a huge challenge ahead of them: they had to win the last chance at the Asian Continental Cup final to earn the overall quota. The pair showed incredible drive and belief, coming from behind in both the semi-final and final, including saving match points in the semi-final, to keep their Olympic dream alive.

“This is the first Games since Athens 2004 that Australia has two men’s beach volleyball teams, which is a great sign for Volleyball Australia’s performance program. Congratulations Mark, Izac and everyone who helped you achieve this Olympic milestone.”

Queenslander Nicolaidis competed at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games and is still struggling to qualify for Paris 2024.

“Honestly, I’m still letting it sink in, it doesn’t feel real yet,” he said. “We sat in the office at the beginning of the year and put all the cards on the table and said ‘we’re going to give it our all at the Continental Cup’.

“Every decision we made was for that tournament. Izac and I had countless sleepless nights leading up to the tournament, thinking of all the scenarios – both the good ones and the depressing lows that could have happened. We went into the fight prepared, knowing what was coming, so we were ready to deal with whatever came our way.

“We don’t just want to play in the Olympics – we want to go as far as possible in the tournament. The first job is done to get there, and now we are putting all our preparations into going as far as possible in that tournament.

“We thrive on playing against the best teams in the world and that’s what this opportunity offers. We’re going to Vienna Elite16 beforehand, where most of the Olympic teams will have their final battles before the Games, so that will be a nice prelude before we go to the Olympic Village.”

Carracher learned to play volleyball at Manly Beach in Sydney and said the Australian tour allowed them to achieve international success.

“The level of the men’s draw from team one to team 30, it’s just a really tight group of teams. We’re proud to have a really good record against the top 10 teams in the world, we’re just over the moon to have the opportunity and the mentality to go out there and try to knock people off their pedestals,” he said.

“We said in 2023 that our biggest regret was not playing more of the domestic tour. We were a bit sidelined by injuries but then we decided to prioritise international events. The shock of competition at every level is just different; you can’t replicate it in training, no matter how hard you try. You can’t replicate being down 19-16 in a deciding set; you can’t replicate being down 20-all and supporting your processes.

“That mental structure and learning how to win, and then being able to repeat those winning processes, is so important for all elite sports and I think going back and starting this year playing as many games as we can, wherever we can – that was us on the domestic tour.

“We did a bit of a ‘Houdini’ and escaped that first game (in the Asian Continental Cup final) but there was also the pressure of playing one game before the Olympics and both teams knew that. That’s probably why it’s so shocking and it’s taken a while to sink in because we knew we had our backs against the wall.”

Volleyball Australia CEO Andrew Dee praised the duo for their achievement.

“The fact that it has taken 20 years to get two Australian men’s beach volleyball teams back to the Olympics shows how incredibly difficult it is to qualify,” he said.

“Mark and Izac started this journey together almost two and a half years ago and for the past year they have been planning for the Asian Continental Cup to secure their place in Paris. That plan has worked out in the best possible way.

“In those final matches to earn qualification, Mark and Izac came one point from elimination three times, and each time they came back to win. That kind of battle is quintessentially Australian and it’s the kind of performance we can expect from them in Paris.”

Nicolaidis and Carracher will now travel to Europe to complete their Olympic preparations, starting next weekend with the Beach Pro Tour Elite16 event in Vienna.

Article courtesy of AOC