Another chapter of the Swiss battle unfolds in Guadalajara

Few things will be more important in international beach volleyball in the next two 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 who will be chasing something special on their Road to Paris.

Some important moves were made in the internal race between Swiss women’s teams as they attempt to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics via the FIVB Olympic Rankings this past week at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Guadalajara Challenge, in Mexico, where all three duos that vie for the two available spots were on the court.

The rankings, which will determine 17 of the 24 teams that will compete in this 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 9, 2024, when the 17 best-ranked men’s and women’s teams will secure a spot in the Games.

Zoé Vergé-Dépré and Esmée Böbner, who entered the week in third place in the country’s internal battle, had a lot to celebrate at the conclusion of the event as they not only secured their first title as partners on the Beach Pro Tour but also significantly improved their situation in the race.

By adding 340 of the 800 points they earned with their title in Mexico to their Olympic Rankings total, the two got to 7,360, passing compatriots Anouk Vergé-Dépré and Joana Mäder, who lost in the qualifier and continued with 7,140. Zoé and Esmée now occupy the 11^th place in the rankings, establishing themselves as serious Olympic contenders.

The third Swiss team involved in the battle, formed by reigning European champions Nina Brunner and Tanja Hüberli, also made progress in their Olympic campaign, finishing ninth in Guadalajara and getting to 7,560 points, making it to the ninth spot in the rankings and also passing Vergé-Dépré and Mäder.

FIVB Women’s Olympic Rankings

Also benefiting from their results in Guadalajara to earn positions in the rankings were Spanish Daniela Álvarez and Tania Moreno, who finished fifth and went from 13^th to 12^th with 7,060 points, and Lithuanians Monika Paulikiene and Aine Raupelyte, who were also fifth and moved from 16^th to 15^th with 6,680 points.

Other European women’s teams inside the qualification zone following the conclusion of the Guadalajara Challenge are Netherlands’ Raisa Schoon/Katja Stam (fifth – 8,840 points), Latvia’s Tina Graudina/Anastasija Samoilova (seventh – 8,560), Italy’s Marta Menegatti/Valentina Gottardi (eighth - 8,200), Germany’s Svenja Müller/Cinja Tillmann (13^th – 6,900), France’s Lézana Placette/Alexia Richard (14th - 6,780), Germany’s Laura Ludwig/Louisa Lippmann (16^th – 6,500) and Finland’s Taru Lahti/Niina Ahtiainen (17th – 6,420).

The silver medalists in the men’s event, Germans Lukas Pfretzschner and Sven Winter have only five results accounted for, totaling 2,640 points, and are still way behind in the race to qualify for Paris.

FIVB Men’s Olympic Rankings

Italians Alex Ranghieri and Adrian Carambula made the most progress among the European men’s teams involved in the Olympic race as they entered the Guadalajara Challenge in 16^th place and ended it in 12^th after they finished ninth, bringing their total up to 7,380 points in the rankings.

Dutch Matthew Immers and Steven van de Velde also moved up, going from 15^th to 14^th after they finished fifth, now amassing 7,200 points in the rankings.

Also inside the qualification zone right now are Norway’s Anders Mol/Christian Sørum (first – 10,460 points), Sweden’s David Åhman/Jonatan Hellvig (second – 10,020), Germany’s Nils Ehlers/Clemens Wickler (third – 9,100), Italy’s Paolo Nicolai/Samuele Cottafava (fifth – 8,800), the Netherlands’ Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen (seventh – 8,160), Spain’s Pablo Herrera/Adrián Gavira (eighth – 7,780), Austria’s Julian Hörl/Alexander Horst (13^th – 7,260) and Poland’s Michal Bryl/Bartosz Losiak (16^th – 7,080).

A new update to the Olympic Rankings will be made following the conclusion of this week’s Elite16 event in Tepic, Mexico.