Carambula and Ranghieri earn ten Olympic ranking spots with Montréal bronze

Few things will be more important in international beach volleyball in the next 11 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 on their Road to Paris.

One of the two European teams that made it to the podium of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite16 event held in Montréal, Canada, last week, Italians Adrian Carambula and Alex Ranghieri jumped ten spots in the FIVB Olympic Rankings after its latest update.

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.

With their third-place finish in Montréal, the Italian Olympians picked up valuable 1,000 points, elevating their total to 4,740 and jumping from 15^th to fifth on the list.

The winners of the Canadian event, Norwegians Anders Mol and Cristian Sørum also benefited from the 1,200 points collected in the tournament. The Beach Volley Vikings continued at the top of the rankings and are now almost 1,000 points ahead of the second-placed duo, Brazil’s Evandro Gonçalves/Arthur Lanci – 6,900 points to 5,980.

FIVB Men’s Olympic Rankings

Two other European teams appear in the Olympic Rankings top ten. Spanish Adrián Gavira and Pablo Herrera, who were 17^th in Montréal, are fourth in the list, with 4,980 points, while Germans Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler, who finished fifth in the event, rank seventh with 4,640.

Five other duos from the continent are inside the qualification zone for the Paris 2024 Olympics – Italy’s Paolo Nicolai/Samuele Cottafava (12^th – 4,400 points), Sweden’s David Åhman/Jonatan Hellvig (14^th – 4,280), Austria’s Julian Hörl/Alexander Horst (15^th – 4,100), the Netherlands’ Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen (16^th – 4,100) and Poland’s Michal Bryl/Bartosz Łosiak (17^th – 4,000).

Among the women, Poland’s Jagoda Gruszczynska and Aleksandra Wachowicz and Germany’s Cinja Tillmann/Svenja Müller were the European duos that benefited the most from the points earned in Montréal.

The Poles were of the sensations of the tournament, finishing fifth, and are now in 16^th place in the Olympic rankings with the 760 points they collected – they are now at 3,360. The Germans didn’t make it out of the qualifier Canada, but the 400 points they secured were enough to push them to 17^th place, with their new total of 3,280.

FIVB Women’s Olympic Rankings

Three of the four European duos that entered the event inside the Olympic Rankings top ten continued there – Switzerland’s Zoé Vergé-Dépré/Esmée Böbner (seventh – 5,120), the Netherlands’ Raisa Schoon/Katja Stam (ninth – 4,660) and Italy’s Marta Menegatti/Valentina Gottardi (tenth – 4,540).

Also inside the qualification zone are Finland’s Taru Lathi/Niina Athiainen (11^th – 4,040), Czechia’s Barbora Hermannová/Marie-Sara Štochlová (12^th – 3,920), Latvia’s Tina Graudina/Anastasija Samoilova (13^th – 3,900) and Spain’s Liliana Fernández/Paula Soria (15^th – 3,400).

This week’s EuroBeachVolley will have a big impact on the Olympic Rankings, which will be updated following the conclusion of the event held in Vienna.