The Brazilian duo will start its Rio 2026 campaign from Pool A of the main draw. At 10:00 local time (13:00 UTC) on Thursday, Evandro & Arthur Lanci will be challenged by a team emerging from Wednesday’s qualifications. Later on, they will also meet Austria’s Timo Hammarberg & Tim Berger and USA’s James Shaw & Miles Partain.
Second-seeded Martins Plavins & Kristians Fokerots of Latvia will headline Pool B. They reached the last four at both previous Rio stops on the Beach Pro Tour and even made the podium with bronze in 2024. 41-year-old three-time Olympian and London 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Plavins picked up his 2005 U21 world title in Rio as well. Pool B also features the strong presence of Australia’s Thomas Hodges & Ben Hood and Italy’s Samuele Cottafava & Gianluca Dal Corso.
The world’s number five team – France’s Remi Bassereau Daubas & Calvin Aye – are seeded third in Rio and will play in Pool C. Brazil’s Andre Stein & Renato Lima are one of their opponents. Similar to Evandro & Arthur Lanci, 2017 world champion Andre has also picked up all of his four Beach Pro Tour golds at home in Brazil, with his former teammate George Wanderley, but he is still looking to make his first podium in two years, as well as his first podium with current partner Renato, a 2022 World Championship silver medalist, and this week’s event in Rio might prove a great opportunity for that. It will also be an opportunity for England’s Javier Bello & Joaquin Bello to reclaim the Rio crown, which they took in 2024, at their first and only Elite-level podium. The Bello twins are Andre & Renato’s first opponent in the pool.
Pool D also looks very competitive. Fourth-seeded Hendrik Mol & Mathias Berntsen of Norway are in the company of Leon Luini & Matthew Immers of the Netherlands and three-time Olympians Marco Grimalt & Esteban Grimalt of Chile.
