The Swedish beach volleyball duo Jonatan Hellvig and David Åhman would actually play the World Cup in Rome.
But after a late injury to Hellvig, David Åhman, 20, was instead called up to play in the U22 European Championships together with Jacob Hölting Nilsson.
- I did not know that I would be here at all.
On Wednesday afternoon at half past three I was told that we would go here.
It was a big shock.
I must be completely honest, I do not know how it went, says Hölting Nilsson in a press release.
"Hard to put into words"
The late change turned into a gold-edged success.
After a victory against Austria in the semifinals, the duo faced Latvia in the European Championship final.
Once there, it was a clear final victory in two straight sets (21-17, 21-18).
- It is difficult to put it into words like this immediately afterwards.
Given that we never played together, I had no great expectations.
They said we had a chance against all the teams if we played well.