Hamburg Elite16 silver medallists Taryn Kloth & Kristen Nuss, currently number three in the World Ranking, will be the second-seeded team in Paris and will headline Pool B. The Americans have so far collected four golds, one silver and one bronze on the Tour. They will open their campaign at Roland-Garros with a game against Italy’s Marta Menegatti & Valentina Gottardi, number 13 in the world, who won the Saquarema Challenge earlier this year, in addition to claiming another four medals on the Tour so far. Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medallists Taliqua Clancy & Mariafe Artacho Del Solar are also in that pool. The Australians, number six in the World Ranking and aiming at their eighth podium on the Tour, hope to get be back in their shape from the start of the season, when they medalled at three consecutive Elite16 tournaments.
Canadian Olympians Melissa Humana-Paredes & Brandie Wilkerson joined forces for the start of this season and have already picked up two golds and a bronze out of seven appearances on the Beach Pro Tour, rising to number seven in the world and the number three seed in Paris, which puts them in a leading position in Pool C. But even getting past the pool stage looks like a serious challenge in the company of two pairs of the highest caliber, both former World Ranking leaders, currently number four and number five in the chart. Having already collected eight Beach Pro Tour medals, including four gold, Barbara Seixas & Carol Solberg of Brazil will be back for more, while Katja Stam & Raisa Schoon of the Netherlands have last year’s Paris Elite16 title to defend, while hoping to make it to their seventh Tour podium.
2022 World Championship bronze medallists Cinja Tillmann & Svenja Muller of Germany lost some ground they had gained in the World Ranking, but are back on the rise after reaching bronze at last month’s Hamburg Elite16. The number 16 team in the world will be seeded fourth in Paris to lead Pool D. They will start the campaign for their third Beach Pro Tour podium (after also winning gold at last year’s Ostrava Elite16) against host country representatives Lezana Placette & Alexia Richard, the number 21 team in the world, whose best result on the Tour so far was the fourth place at last year’s Cape Town Elite16. The pool line-up is highlighted by the presence of the number two team in the World Ranking, USA’s Sara Hughes & Kelly Cheng, who have already earned four gold medals (but none since the Tepic Elite16 in March) and one silver medal on the Tour.
