After finishing second at a second Elite16 tournament in row, United States’ Taryn Kloth & Kristen Nuss climbed up to second place in the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Ranking for the first time in their journey on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour, overtaking fellow Americans Sara Hughes & Kelly Cheng.

The latest update of the World Ranking was affected by both the addition of the points from last week’s Paris Elite16 and the expiration of the points from last year’s inaugural tournament at the Roland-Garros Stadium in the French capital. Improving from fifth in 2022 to second in 2023, Nuss & Kloth netted 340 of the 1,100 points that came with their silver, improving to 7,620 points, or 140 above the previous number two Hughes & Cheng, who finished fifth last week, but did not gain in points as their Doha Elite16 fifth place was now pushed out of their top eight achievements over the last 365 days. They had been number two in the ranking for 12 straight weeks.

Adding another gold to their Beach Pro Tour record, reigning world champions Eduarda Santos Lisboa (Duda) & Ana Patricia Ramos of Brazil only re-confirmed their status as the number one team in the world. They net-gained 200 of the 1,200 points that came with their Paris gold, improving to a 9,100 total and standing on top 1,480 points clear of Nuss & Kloth. It is their 48^th week in a row as World Ranking leaders.

Despite claiming the bronze in Paris, former world’s number one Katja Stam & Raisa Schoon of the Netherlands actually dropped in the ranking since they lost the points from their Paris gold in 2022. They are now seventh, down from fifth. Meanwhile, Italy’s Marta Menegatti & Valentina Gottardi, who finished fourth in Paris, ascended three positions and are back among the top 10 for the first time since July.

Among the women’s teams with fifth-place finishes last week, Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes & Brandie Wilkerson gained the most, rising three positions up to number four in the world, their highest ever as a team.

One of the men’s teams that finished fifth in Paris, former world’s number one Andre Stein & George Wanderley of Brazil, returned to the top three for the first time since May. They netted 160 points towards a new total of 6,820, enough to overtake USA’s Miles Partain & Andrew Benesh, whose total didn’t change, and Qatar’s Cherif Younousse & Ahmed Tijan, who did not play in Paris and lost the points from their fifth place in 2022. George & Andre are 900 points below second-ranked Swedes David Ahman & Jonatan Hellvig and 2,280 points below leaders Anders Mol & Christian Sorum of Norway.

Paris champions Ondrej Perusic & David Schweiner of Czechia, who have competed in only five tournaments over the last 12 months, netted 600 points to improve from 27^th to 19^th, still far from their historic best, the third position they had back in May 2022.

Paris runners-up Clemens Wickler & Nils Ehlers of Germany, on the other hand, for whom the second place was the best-ever result on the Beach Pro Tour, also achieved their best ranking as a team so far. Rising two positions from the previous week, they are now up to number seven in the world, switching places with Italy’s Paolo Nicolai & Samuele Cottafava, the only team among the top eight in Paris, who suffered a drop in the ranking, after losing the points from the third place they had claimed at Paris Elite16 2022.

Last week’s bronze medallists and silver medallists of the previous edition Alexander Brouwer & Robert Meeuwsen of the Netherlands also lost some points, but stayed put in number eight.

Austrians Julian Horl & Alexander Horst, who finished fourth at Roland-Garross, jumped six positions up to number 13. Stefan Boermans & Yorick de Groot of the Netherlands, who had reached the number one spot in the World Ranking in May 2022 and reunited this year after De Groot’s recovery from injury, continued their climb back up the chart. Their fifth pace last week propelled them another 16 spots up to number 34. The other quarterfinalists, Pedro Solberg & Gustavo Carvalhaes (Guto) of Brazil, also made a solid upward leap, from number 33 to number 22.

**FIVB Beach Volleyball World Ranking – Women**
**FIVB Beach Volleyball World Ranking – Men**

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