Lausanne, Switzerland, June 21, 2019 - Due to a tendon injury in his right wrist, Germany's Alexander Walkenhorst has withdrawn from the upcoming FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships that will be played June 28 through July 7 in Hamburg, Germany.
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With the 30-year-old Walkenhorst sidelined for the US$1-million FIVB World Championships, the FIVB has approved 2012 Olympian and 2006 FIVB Under-19 world champion Jonathan Erdmann as Sven Winter's new partner for the competition to be played at Am Rothenbaum Stadium in Hamburg.
"Of course, this is unbelievably disappointing," said Walkenhorst, the older brother of reigning women's FIVB world champion Kira Walkenhorst. "I'll miss the best beach volleyball experience of my career. Many have asked me why I do not try anyway, but to compete in a World Championship without being 100% physically fit would be unfair to all involved. Not only to my partner, but especially to the thousands of beach volleyball fans who are looking forward to highly competitive games at top level."
With Winter scheduled to play in his first World Championships, Erdmann is no stranger to the event with four previous appearances and a 15-6 match mark highlighted by a third place finish at the 2013 World Championships in Poland where he and Kay Matysik defeated Brazilians Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego for the bronze medal.
The Stare Jablonki win avenged Erdmann and Matysik's setback to Alison and Emanuel in the first-round of elimination at the London 2012 Olympic Games where the Brazilians dropped the gold medal match to Germany's Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann.
The 2019 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships will feature 96 teams from 38 countries with host Germany entering 10 pairs, including four in the men's competition and six in the women's tournament.
The 12th edition of the FIVB World Championships concludes with the women's medal matches on July 6 on the Am Rothenbaum Stadium centre court with the men's finale set for July 7 as the winning teams will share the $60,000 first-place prizes.
Host Germany will be seeking its fifth men's and third women's medals in the FIVB World Championships. Brink and Reckermann captured the 2009 World Championship trophy in Norway by defeating Brazilians Alison and Harley Marques in the Stavanger finale. Kira Walkenhorst and Laura Ludwig topped the 2017 World Championship podium in Austria by defeating Americans Lauren Fendrick and April Ross in the Vienna gold medal match.