The Road to Paris: Vikings back at the top of the Olympic Rankings

Few things will be more important in international beach volleyball in the next 12 months than qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympics. The race to be a part of sports’ greatest event is always fascinating and generates endless interesting storylines involving the top teams in the world. We will be following the Olympic qualification process throughout the entire period and will also present some articles that will help you understand how it works and introduce you to some of the stars of the sport that will be chasing something special in their Road to Paris.

The first Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite16 event held in Europe in 2023, last week’s tournament in Ostrava, Czechia, had a major impact on the FIVB Olympic Rankings, which were updated following the conclusion of the event.

The rankings, which will determine 17 of the 24 teams that will compete in next year’s Paris Olympics, are formed by the total points earned by teams considering their best 12 results in international and continental tournaments played until June 10, 2024, when the 17 best-ranked men’s and women’s teams will secure a spot in the Games.

The most significant movement in the rankings was Norwegians Anders Mol and Christian Sørum returning to the top spot for the first time since March. The Vikings had a head start with their victory at the season-opening Doha Elite16 in February, but saw other teams surpass them over the last couple of months.

With the 1,200 points earned with their victory in Czechia, the reigning Olympic and world champions got to 4,600, surpassing European champions David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvid of Sweden, who entered the event in first place, but collected just 760 points with their fifth-place finish and now stand at 4,280.

Germans Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler, who were also fifth in Ostrava, climbed two spots, going from seventh to fifth (3,280), while Spanish veterans Pablo Herrera and Adrián Gavira moved on the opposite direction after they had to sit out of the tournament, going from third to sixth (3,220). Poles Michal Bryl and Bartosz Losiak moved from eighth to seventh by improving their total (3,100) by 600 points with their ninth-place finish in the event.

Italians Adrian Carambula and Alex Ranghieri, who were fifth in Ostrava, and Czechs Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner, who finished fourth, both found their way into the top ten after last week’s event. The Italians went from 11^th to ninth (2,980) while the Czechs gained impressive ten spots, going from 20^th to tenth (2,860).

FIVB Men’s Olympic Rankings

Dutch Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen (11^th – 2,740 points), Austria’s Robin Seidl/Moritz Pristauz (13^th – 2,440), Italy’s Paolo Nicolai/Samuele Cottafava (15^th – 2,360), the Netherlands’ Steven van de Velde/Matthew Immers (16^th – 2,300) and Austria’s Julian Hörl/Alexander Horst (17^th – 2,280) all appear inside the qualification zone, giving Europe 12 of the 17 spots at this moment.

Among the women, when considering the country quota of two teams per nation that can qualify for the Olympics, Europe has ten of the 17 best-ranked teams on the list.

Despite finishing ninth in Ostrava, Dutch Katja Stam and Raisa Schoon were able to move one spot up, going from seventh to sixth (3,160). Italians Marta Menegatti and Valentina Gottardi, who were 13^th, went in the opposite direction, going from sixth to seventh (3,020).

Switzerland now have two teams in top ten with Zoé Vergé-Depré/Esmée Böbner continuing in eighth place (2,760) despite not making it out of the qualifier and compatriots Nina Brunner and Tanja Hüberli going from 16^th to ninth (2,760) with their fourth-place finish. Right above them are reigning European champions Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova (2,580) of Latvia, who finished 13^th in Ostrava.

The other European teams in the top-17 are Czechia’s Barbora Hermannová/Marie-Sara Stochlova (13^th – 2,500 points), Spain’s Liliana Fernandez/Paula Soria (14^th – 2,460), France’s Lézana Placette/Alexia Richard (15^th – 2,300), Germany’s Karla Borger/Sandra Ittlinger (16^th – 2,280) and Finland’s Niina Ahtiainen/Taru Lathi (17^th – 2,160).

FIVB Women’s Olympic Rankings

The next Beach Pro Tour event that will cause a significant impact on the Olympic Rankings will the Jurmala Challenge, which will be played from June 15-18, in Latvia.