This week’s update of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Rankings was mostly affected by two factors: the new points from last week’s Yucatan Challenge in Mexico on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour, and the expiration of the points from last year’s Recife Challenge in Brazil. As a result, Yucatan medalists Joao Pedrosa & Hugo Campos of Portugal and Yves Haussener & Julian Friedli of Switzerland reached new highs in their pairs’ beach volleyball journeys, semifinalists Teegan Van Gunst & Kimberly Hildreth caught up with Taryn Brasher & Kristen Nuss as the highest ranked US women’s pairs, and quarterfinalists Dorina Klinger & Ronja Klinger of Austria made it to the top 10 of the World Ranking for the first time. Meanwhile, Recife gold medalists Tina Graudina & Anastasija Samoilova of Latvia dropped from second to seventh, while silver medalists Noslen Diaz & Jorge Alayo of Cuba, bronze medalists Monika Paulikiene & Aine Raupelyte of Lithuania and semifinalists Miles Evans & Chase Budinger of USA fell out of the top 10 for their respective genders…
Yucatan medalists Pedrosa & Campos and Haussener & Friedli reach team highs in World Ranking
Ehlers & Wickler and Muller & Tillmann lead the World Rankings for the first time
Published 01:34, 25 Mar 2025
Portugal’s Joao Pedrosa & Hugo Campos
Having not appeared at many eligible tournaments over the past one year, reigning world champions Ondrej Perusic & David Schweiner of Czechia had descended all the way down to number 42 in the men’s World Ranking. They got to keep all the 800 points that came with their Yucatan Challenge gold last week and started climbing back up the chart, immediately shooting 18 positions up to number 24 on a total of 3,800 points from six tournaments.
Meanwhile, Yucatan runners-up Yves Haussener & Julian Friedli of Switzerland and bronze medalists Joao Pedrosa & Hugo Campos of Portugal climbed to heights they had never seen before as teams. Pedrosa & Campos jumped two spots up to a career-high number 23, while Haussener & Friedli gained as many as 23 positions to get up to number 45.
Neither of the above-mentioned two factors caused any movement at the high end of the men’s World Ranking, with Germany’s Nils Ehlers & Clemens Wickler, Sweden’s David Ahman & Jonatan Hellvig and Brazil’s George Wanderley & Andre Stein, in that order, keeping their top three positions ahead of this week’s Quintana Roo Elite in Mexico. However, despite competing in Puerto Progreso last week, Recife runners-up Noslen Diaz & Jorge Alayo of Cuba and fourth-placed Miles Evans & Chase Budinger of USA lost their spots in the top 10, with their positions taken up by Argentina’s Nicolas Capogrosso & Tomas Capogrosso and Chile’s Marco Grimalt & Esteban Grimalt.
All women’s medalists from Yucatan are brand new or recently formed pairs, so neither of them has managed to join the top 100 just yet. Winners Valentina Gottardi & Claudia Scampoli of Italy are now ranked 165th. Runners-up Tanja Huberli & Leona Kernen of Switzerland entered the chart in number 180, while bronze medalists Devon Newberry & Jaden Whitmarsh of the United States, who have made the podiums at all three of their Beach Pro Tour appearances so far, are up in number 105.
The other Yucatan semifinalists, however, USA’s Teegan Van Gunst & Kimberly Hildreth, gained nine positions, climbed to a joint 17th place, leveling up with Paris 2024 Olympians Taryn Brasher (formerly Kloth) & Kristen Nuss as the best ranked American women’s teams. In all fairness, Brasher & Nuss have collected their 4,100 points from only four tournaments played, while Van Gunst & Hildreth have 10 eligible events on their record.
Austria’s Dorina Klinger & Ronja Klinger, whose Yucatan campaign stopped at the quarterfinals, also shifted a spot up the ranking and joined the top 10 for the first time, taking that position away from Lithuanian Olympians Monika Paulikiene & Aine Raupelyte, whose points from the Recife bronze expired.
The biggest change in the women’s top 10 came with the points Recife winners Tina Graudina & Anastasija Samoilova of Latvia lost. The former world’s number one team descended from number two to number seven. Many more high-level shake-ups can be expected in the weeks to come, with as many as six of the current members of the top 10 no longer competing together as pairs. Among those still active, only chart leaders Svenja Muller & Cinja Tillmann and third-ranked Katja Stam & Raisa Schoon of the Netherlands stand above Tina & Anastasija and Klinger & Klinger in the line-up.
