Brazilian duos hold the number one spots in the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Ranking in both genders after the charts were updated following last week’s Beach Pro Tour Elite16 event in Gstaad. While Andre Stein and George Wanderley held on to the top of the men’s ranking, Gstaad silver medallists Barbara Seixas and Carol Solberg climbed up a position to replace previous women's leaders Katja Stam and Raisa Schoon.
Beach Pro Tour 2022
Barbara & Carol rise to top of World Ranking
Brazilian pairs are the number one teams in both genders
Published 05:59, 12 Jul 2022
Barbara & Carol celebrate their semifinal win in Gstaad
Meanwhile, another Brazilian pair, Renato Lima and Vitor Felipe moved up two spots to occupy the second place in the men’s ranking and their compatriots, reigning world champions and Gstaad gold medallists Eduarda Santos Lisboa (Duda) and Ana Patricia Ramos rose two positions from fifth to third in the women’s chart.
With their Gstaad silver, Barbara and Carol added 1,100 points to their tally. Their new total of 6,420 puts them 240 clear of Stam and Schoon, who were not able to get past the pool stage of last week’s tournament in Switzerland. Another 220 points below the Dutch duo are Duda and Ana Patricia, who collected 1,200 points to go with their first Elite16 gold.
Gstaad bronze medallists Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar of Australia rejoined the top 10 in the ranking climbing from number 11 to number five. The 1,000 points they collected in Switzerland brought their total to 4,760, or 700 points below last week’s number three team, World Championship bronze medallists Cinja Tillmann and Svenja Muller of Germany, who skipped the tournament in Gstaad.
Latvia’s Anastasija Kravcenoka and Tina Graudina, who finished fourth last week, climbed one position up to number nine, below two more Brazilian teams, eighth-ranked Talita Antunes and Rebecca Cavalcanti and seventh-ranked Taiana Lima and Hegeile Almeida, and Gstaad quarterfinalists Karla Borger and Julia Sude of Germany, who rose from ninth to sixth.
Two of the other three Gstaad quarterfinalists also moved up the ranking. World Championship runners-up Brandie Wilkerson and Sophie Bukovec of Canada surged from 22nd to 18th, while USA’s Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss ascended from number 33 to number 25. Only Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes of Canada suffered a downward shift of two spots, from position 11 to position 13.
On the men’s side, Gstaad winners Marco Grimalt and Esteban Grimalt of Chile and runners-up Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner of Czechia had been out of the World Ranking top 10 for about a month, but after making last Saturday’s final in Switzerland they both rejoined the club. The Chilean cousins went up from 13th to eighth on a new total of 4,960 points, 160 short of the Czech standouts, who climbed from 12th to seventh.
Bronze medallists Christiaan Varenhorst and Steven van de Velde of the Netherlands shifted two spots up, from 19th to 17th, while fourth-placed Brazilians Bruno Schmidt and Saymon Barbosa gained as many as 11 positions, from 31st to 20th.
Surprisingly, none of last week’s top three in the men's ranking made it among the best eight in Gstaad. Ranking leaders Andre and George did not even make it past the pool stage, but they were able to retain their number one spot on a solid total of 6,540 points. However, World Championship silver medallists Renato and Vitor Felipe reached the Gstaad quarterfinals to collect a new total of 5,580 points and overtake Rome world champs Anders Mol and Christian Sorum of Norway (5,390) and Qatar’s Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan (5,330) to move into second place.
The other three Gstaad quarterfinalists also gained in the ranking, with Austria’s Julian Horl and Alexander Horst making the highest jump of 19 positions to number 37. Germany’s Robin Sowa and Lukas Pfretzschner climbed from 34th to 27th, while Switzerland’s Marco Krattiger and Florian Breer rose from 33rd to 30th.
