The second Elite16 event set to take place in the 2023 Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour season, the Tepic Elite16 will reunite all of the top teams in the world in men’s beach volleyball in Mexico from March 22-26.

The five-day tournament will feature all teams that occupy the top 11 spots in the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Rankings and all three duos that stepped on the podium at last year’s FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship.

• Watch the Beach Pro Tour Tepic Elite16 live or on demand on VBTV.

As many as 17 nations and four continents will be represented among the 28 men’s teams entered in the event – 12 starting directly in the main draw and another 16 beginning in the qualifier. The field also has 28 Olympians and nine Olympic medallists.

Beach Pro Tour Tepic Elite16 – Men’s Entry List

Here are five teams that are worth keeping an eye on as they hit the sand in Tepic:

Mol/Sørum (Norway)

The top team in the world for the most part of the last five years, Anders Mol and Christian Sørum are among the favorites in every tournament they enter and it won’t be any different in Tepic. The reigning Olympic, world and Beach Pro Tour champions won six of the last seven international tournaments in which they weren’t forced to forfeit matches due to injuries and are undefeated in 2023, with victories at the 2022 Beach Pro Tour Final and the Doha Elite16. It’s a big season for Mol and Sørum, who will try to defend the world title they won last year and book their spots in Paris 2024 as quickly as possible – and a victory in Tepic, where they are the top-seeded duo, would be of great help in that regard.

Perusic/Schweiner (Czechia)

After winning their first international gold medals in 2021, Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner were denied their first Beach Pro Tour titles three times last season, settling for silver at the Ostrava and Gstaad Elite16s and the Itapema Challenge. They started the year with a seventh at the 2022 Beach Pro Tour Finals and were forced out of the Doha Elite16 because of an illness, which means they will be back at full power this week in Tepic to continue their hunt for their first Beach Pro Tour gold – they are seeded seventh in the main draw.

Ehlers/Wickler (Germany)

Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler’s first season as partners had the ups and downs anyone could expect from a new team. The ups were third-place finishes at the Hamburg Elite16 and the Kuşadası Challenge, but a 17^th-place finish at the World Championship and a 19^th in their debut as partners at the Itapema Challenge showed there’s still work to be done until they become the best team they can be. After a full offseason, the Germans were fifth in the Doha Elite16 and will try to build from it in Tepic, starting as the tenth-best-seeded tandem in the main draw.

Varenhost/van de Velde (Netherlands)

Dutch heavy-hitters Christiaan Varenhorst and Steven van de Velde are set to make their first appearance in quite some time, having last played a tournament in July 2022. They competed in only seven Beach Pro Tour events last year, having a third-place finish at the Gstaad Elite16 as the highlight of their campaign. One of the tallest teams on Tour, the Dutch have always played a very physical game and it will be curious to see if they used the eight months away from competition to develop other areas of their game and if they will bring something new to the court. They are the top-seeded team in the qualifier.

Evandro/Arthur Lanci (Brazil)

A two-time Olympian and world champion, Evandro Gonçalves had in 2022 his first international season without a medal since 2014. To change things up this season, he picked up 27-year-old Arthur Lanci, a two-time youth world champion who won a pair of Beach Pro Tour medals last year. Despite their recent union, the two have already won titles at both the South American and the Brazilian Tours and will now try to do the same at the international level. In Tepic, they are ranked 13^th in the qualifier.

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