The Road to Paris: Europeans at the top of Olympic Rankings after La Paz
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Few things will be more important in international beach volleyball in the next 15 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 race to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics has just started, with the FIVB Olympic Rankings standing out as the most viable pathway for teams from around the world to make it to the Games next year.
The rankings 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 2023 international season has just started, with only three Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour events (Doha Elite16, La Paz Challenge and Mt. Maunganui Beach Futures) already completed, but some European duos can be proud of their strong starts in the race for Paris 2024 after the rankings’ latest update.
The men’s Olympic Rankings have two European teams sharing the top spot, with 1,560 points each. Spanish veterans Pablo Herrera and Adrian Gavira, who are looking for their fourth-straight Olympic appearance, and reigning European champions David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden, who are attempting to make their Olympic debut, are the duos with the most points earned among the men so far.
The Spanish made a big leap in the rankings this week, moving up from eighth place to the top following their victory at the La Paz Challenge, which granted them 800 points. The veterans had finished fifth in the Doha Elite16, where they earned 760 points.
Åhman and Hellvig, on the other hand, secured only 460 points with their ninth-place finish in La Paz. The bulk of their total was earned at the Doha Elite16, where they stepped on the podium in second place, collecting 1,100 points.
Reigning Olympic and world champions Anders Mol and Christian Sørum of Norway remain in the top three despite having played in only one event during the Olympic qualification period so far – the 1,200 points they secured with their victory in Doha are enough to have them in third place.
Five other European duos, all of which have only one tournament under their belts, are ranked in the top ten – Italy’s Adrian Carambula/Alex Ranghieiri (fourth, with 1,000 points), Poland’s Michal Bryl/Bartosz Losiak (sixth, 900), the Netherlands’ Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen (eighth, 760), Germany’s Nils Ehlers/Clemens Wickler (ninth, 760) and the Netherlands’ Stefan Boermans/Yorick De Groot (tenth, 760).
The women’s Olympic Rankings have American teams Taryn Kloth/Kristen Nuss (1,560 points) and Kelly Cheng/Sara Hughes (1,360) occupying the top two spots – the two competed in both the Doha Elite16 and the La Paz Challenge.
The champions in Doha, Dutch Raisa Schoon and Katja Stam rank third with the 1,200 points earned in their only event so far. Tied with them are Czechs Barbora Hermannová and Marie-Sara Štochlová, who were ninth in Doha and fifth in La Paz, earning 600 points in each event. Swiss Nina Brunner and Tanja Hüberli, who finished second in Doha, are fifth with 1,100 points.
The Austrian Klinger sisters Dorina and Ronja made a big leap with their fourth-place finish this past weekend in La Paz, raising their total points to 1,020 and moving from 21st to eighth in the list. Germans Karla Borger and Sandra Ittlinger were 13th in Doha and ninth in La Paz and rank tenth with 960 points.
The Olympic Rankings will be updated again following the conclusion of this week’s Beach Pro Tour Elite16 and we’ll be back updating you on the most relevant movement involving European duos.
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