Alexander Horst (born 20 December 1982) is a beach volleyball player from

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. He currently plays on the FIVB World Beach Volleyball Tour with new partner Clemens Doppler. Horst found most success with partner Florian Gosch on the FIVB World Beach Volleyball Tour, however a knee injury forced Florian Gosch into early retirement in autumn 2010. Horst and teammate Florian Gosch represented Austria at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. His career highlights include a 5th place showing at the Beijing Games, a 2nd place at the 2009

European Beach Volleyball Championships The European Beach Volleyball Championship (or the Nestea European Championship Final) is a unisex sport competition for national teams in the sport of beach volleyball. The championship is held annually by the CEV (the European volleyball fede ...

in Sochi,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, and a 2nd place at the Stare Jablonki Grand Slam in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

in 2012.

2007

In his first full season playing with big blocker Gosch, the results were very positive including ninth-place positions at the Grand Slam in Stavanger,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

, the Beach Volleyball World Championships in

Gstaad Gstaad ( ; ) is a town in the German-speaking section of the Canton of Bern in southwestern Switzerland. It is part of the municipality of Saanen and is known as a major ski resort and a popular destination amongst high society and the internati ...

, Switzerland and the

in Spain. With 2 other 9th-place finishes at open tournaments along with a bronze medal at

Åland Åland ( fi, Ahvenanmaa: ; ; ) is an autonomous and demilitarised region of Finland since 1920 by a decision of the League of Nations. It is the smallest region of Finland by area and population, with a size of 1,580 km2, and a populat ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, the team of Gosch-Horst was well on its way to olympic qualification.

2008

A disappointing season with no top 10 finishes up until the 2008 Summer Olympics in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, China. In the games, they overcame possible elimination in the lucky loser bracket to post a very solid 5th-place finish in eventually losing to the Brazilian silver medalists, Marcio and Fabio.

2009

A very good season with 7 top 10 finishes and then topping it off with a silver medal at the

in Sochi,

2010

Best finishes in 2010 include a 7th place showing early in the season in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

, and a 4th-place finish in Marseille World Series in July. This in his last season playing with Gosch who would have to retire at the end of the season due to knee complications.

2011

After the retirement of Gosch, Horst played on the 2011 FIVB World Beach Volleyball Tour with new partner and beach volleyball rookie Daniel Müllner. Their best showing was a 17th place in the 2011 Beach Volleyball World Championships in Rome. On 21 October 2011 the pair officially announced their split. Speculation began immediately of an Alexander Horst / Clemens Doppler duo, who also split from his partner on the same day. Horst and Doppler would go on to announce their partnership 2 weeks later.

2012

The season started out at the Myslowice Open in Poland. Horst and Doppler placed a solid 7th place to kick off the new season. Between mixed results in the FIVB World Tour and the 2012 CEV European Championships, Horst and Doppler posted a hometown win in

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden i ...

. However, their best success in the 2012 season was grabbing a last-minute spot in the 2012 Summer Olympics qualification round in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

on 1 July. The pair had a heartbreaking pool play loss to the Swiss Heuscher/Bellaguarda in the 2012 Summer Olympics, ending their olympic hopes in pool play at 19th place. One week after the Olympics, the Austrian duo rebounded for a silver team medal, beating the season's world champions Gibb/Rosenthal for their best showing on the FIVB tour by an Austrian men's pair ever.

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Horst, Alexander 1982 births Living people Austrian beach volleyball players Men's beach volleyball players Beach volleyball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Beach volleyball players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Beach volleyball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic beach volleyball players of Austria Sportspeople from Vienna