Kira Walkenhorst’s Wife Maria Gives Birth to Triplets

The world’s most successful recent beach volleyball pairing are now both mothers. After Laura Ludwig gave birth in June, her on-court partner Kira Walkenhorst became a mother on Thursday as well, when Kira’s wife Maria gave birth to triplets.

At 8:31 AM, 8:33 AM, and 8:34 AM, respectively, Maria gave birth to Mo, Pepe, and Emma via caesarean section at the Asklepios Clinic in Hamburg-Barmbek, Germany. The children arrived early – at 34 weeks or pregnancy. They were each between 1.9 and 2.5 kilograms in weight (4 lbs, 2 ounces and 5 pounds, 8 ounces) and were 46, 46, and 49 inches tall.

Walkenhorst was in the operating room holding the hand of her wife during the procedure, and Walkenhorst says that everyone involve is doing fine.

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Dreifaches Mama-Glück bei Kira & Maria😍😍😍

A post shared by Deutscher Volleyball-Verband (@team_germany_volleyball) on Oct 27, 2018 at 11:48am PDT

As for the on-the-court training, Ludwig and Walkenhorst returned to training in the sand together last week, more than a year after their last competitive match. They’ve declared their goal to be a return to full strength in time for the 2019 World Championships, at their home in Hamburg, where they’ll be defending the title. The pair are also the defending Olympic champions.

The twosome participated in a ceremony to mark the 250 day point until the start of the 2019 World Championships.

Walkenhorst, who herself was working her way back from a shoulder injury, played with a few different Germans as their schedules allowed in the absence of her usual partner. She primarily played with young countrymate Leonie Kortzinger. The pair focused their efforts on the German domestic tour, made a few finals, and finished ranked 9th even without playing in all of the tour’s stops. Because Kortzinger has a significant height advantage on Ludwig, Ludwig actually played defender rather than blocker in the pairing. Now back with Ludwig, she’s expected to return to her blocker position.