EU – Baltic States, Forum, Good for Business, Latvia

In the final match, Samoilovs/Smedins beat Italy's Alex Ranghieri and Adrian Carambula 2-0 (21:18, 21:18).

At the previous two European Championships, Samoilovs and Smedins took silver. This is the second time Latvia wins gold at European Championships – back in 2009, Inguna Minusa and Inese Jursone had won European gold in the women's competition.

Samoilovs/Smedins were three points ahead in the first set, 12:9, but the Italians erased Latvia's lead at 15 all. In the final stretch, Samoilovs' offense and a block by Smedins put the Latvians back in the lead and the first set ended 21:18.

The Italians briefly moved ahead at the start of the second set, but Samoilovs/Smedins brought the match to an end with a second 21:18.

"As we entered the match, we really said to ourselves that it was time to break the negative series and win a final here in Klagenfurt," Samoilovs told the organizers. "This is a legendary place and everyone in the world talks about this centre court and all what happened here throughout the years. So now we have our small place in the history of this place. It has been a difficult season with Janis being injured but now we are definitely back on track and our focus is entirely on getting as many points as possible in order to secure our qualification for next year's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro."

Before the final match, the Netherlands' Reinder Nummerdor and Christiaan Varenhorst defeated their countrymen Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen 2-0 to take bronze.

As reported, Samoilovs/Smedins opened this year's European Beach Volleyball Championship with a 2-0 victory (21:17, 21:19) over the Austrian pair Alexander Huber/Robin Seidel. In the next group match, they beat Spanish pair Alfredo Marco and Christian Garcia 2-0 (21:19, 21:14), and then Carambula/Ranghieri 2-0 (21:17, 21:18).

In the second round of the championship, Samoilovs/Smedins beat Germany's Alexander Walkenhorst and Stefan Windscheif 2-1 (21:17, 20:22, 15:12), and in the quarterfinals the Latvians defeated the 2013 European Champions Adrian Gavira and Pablo Herrera (Spain) 2-0 (21:18, 24:22).

In the semifinals on Sunday morning, Samoilovs/Smedins defeated Brouwer/Meeuwsen 2-0 (21:18, 21:19).