Boermans and De Groot firmly in the mix with Doha gold
Road to Paris
Few things will be more important in international beach volleyball in the next three 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.
The FIVB Olympic Rankings were updated for the first time in 2024 following the conclusion of last week’s Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite16 event in Doha, Qatar, and some European teams took important steps towards their goals of competing in the Paris 2024 Games in a few months.
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.
Dutch Stefan Boermans and Yorick De Groot had a late start to the race, having missed several tournaments in 2023 due to injuries, but their victory in the season-opening tournament held in the Qatari capital made their qualification look way more likely.
With their title in Doha, the Dutch added 1,200 points to their total, elevating it to 6,640, which would be enough to place them in 17th place in the Rankings. The two are, however, the third Dutch team to appear on the list and would be left off due to the limitation of a maximum of two teams from the same country per gender to compete in the Olympics.
That, however, shouldn’t be a problem for much longer as Boermans and De Groot are just 300 points behind compatriots Matthew Immers and Steven van de Velde (6,940), who currently rank 15th, and with four more results to add before they start dropping their lower finishes, the two are expected to be in the top-ten pretty soon.
The results in Doha also made Europe have the top four teams in the Men’s Rankings as Germans Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler passed Brazilians André Loyola and George Wanderley with the 900 points they secured with their fourth place in the event, getting to third place with 9,100.
Bronze medalists Anders Mol and Christian Sørum of Norway continue in first place with 10,460 points, silver medalists and European champions David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden are second with 10,020 and fifth-placed Samuele Cottafava and Paolo Nicolai of Italy are fourth with 8,800.
Other European teams in the top ten are the Netherlands’ Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen (sixth – 8,160 points) and Spain’s Pablo Herrera/Adrián Gavira (ninth – 7,500). Poland’s Michal Bryl/Bartosz Losiak (13th – 7,080), Austria’s Julian Hörl/Alexander Host (14th – 7,060) and Italy’s Adrian Carambula/Alex Ranghieri (16th – 6,920) also sit inside the qualification zone.
Among the women, Latvians Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova, who were the best European team in the event, finishing fourth, gained two spots in the Olympic Rankings, going from eighth to sixth, now with 8,220 points. They are the second-best-ranked European duo, right behind Dutch Katja Stam and Raisa Schoon, who are fifth with 8,840.
Two other teams from Europe appear in the top ten – Italy’s Marta Menegatti/Valentina Gottardi (eighth – 8,200 points) and Switzerland’s Tanja Hüberli/Nina Brunner (tenth – 7,100). The reigning European champions, the Swiss had a lot to celebrate this week as their fifth-place finish in Doha was huge for them in the country’s internal battle as it made them pass both Joana Mäder/Anouk Vergé-Dépré (11th – 6,940) and Esmée Böbner/Zoé Vergé-Dépré (6,820).
Germans Laura Ludwig and Louisa Lippmann also significantly improved their situation in Doha, getting 760 points with their fifth-place finish and moving inside the qualification zone in 17th place with 5,740 points, while also passing compatriots Sandra Ittlinger and Karla Borger (5,620) and becoming the second-best German tandem in the race.
Other European teams that would book their tickets to Paris if the qualification process ended now are Germany’s Svenja Müller/Cinja Tillmann (12th – 6,900 points), Spain’s Daniela Álvarez/Tania Moreno (13th – 6,660), France’s Lézana Placette/Alexia Richard (14th – 6,620), Finland’s Taru Lathi/Niina Ahtiainen (15th - 6,160) and Lithuania’s Monika Paulikiene/Aine Raupelyte (16th – 6,160).
The next major update in the FIVB Olympic Rankings should happen following the Recife Challenge, which is set to take place from March 21-24.