Sara Hughes & Kelly Cheng are the new number two team in the women’s FIVB Beach Volleyball World Ranking after the latest update on Monday, following the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite16 event in Gstaad last week. The Americans reached the Gstaad final and, despite losing to ranking leaders Eduarda Santos Lisboa (Duda) & Ana Patricia Ramos of Brazil, they made yet another upward leap, climbing from last week’s fifth to this week’s second position.

Hughes & Cheng picked up 1,100 points along with their Gstaad silver and improved to a new total of 7,320, which is 1,140 points below world champions Duda & Ana Patricia and 300 points above the previous number two, Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medallists Taliqua Clancy & Mariafe Artacho Del Solar of Australia, who registered a fifth-place finish in Switzerland. Meanwhile, Duda & Ana Patricia’s total of 8,460 points remained unchanged as they earned 1,200 points with their Gstaad 2023 gold, but also dropped 1,200 expired points from their Gstaad 2022 gold.

Gstaad bronze medallists Taryn Kloth & Kristen Nuss of USA netted 240 of the 1,000 points they took and stayed in number four, now just 80 points short of Clancy & Mariafe.

Germany’s Cinja Tillmann & Svenja Muller, who finished fourth in Switzerland, jumped 14 places up to number 23 to share it with recently paired Canadians Melissa Humana-Paredes & Brandie Wilkerson, who made the highest leap of 10 positions among those, who finished their campaigns at the quarterfinals. Another team that finished with a fifth-place result, Italy’s Marta Menegatti & Valentina Gottardi, returned to the top 10 in the women’s ranking.

The top 10 in the men’s ranking has two first-time members. Gstaad Elite16 winners Miles Partain & Andrew Benesh ascended nine spots to number 10. After netting the entire amount of 1,200 points that came with the gold, the Americans improved to a new total of 5,564 points.

Italy’s Adrian Carambula & Alex Ranghieri also made it to the top 10 for the first time since they reunited last fall. They reached the quarterfinals in Gstaad, enough to gain 760 points and shoot 10 positions up the ranking, from number 17 to number seven on a total of 5,740 points, replacing compatriots Paolo Nicolai & Samuele Cottafava (who dropped a spot to number 11) as the highest ranked Italian duo.

Gstaad bronze medallists and former world’s number one team Andre Stein & George Wanderley of Brazil rose two spots to number six. Reigning Olympic and world champions and World Ranking leaders Anders Mol & Christian Sorum of Norway, who claimed the silver in Switzerland, net-gained 380 points to widen the gap from second-ranked Swedes David Ahman & Jonatan Hellvig to an impressive 1,860 points. Meanwhile, third-ranked Michal Bryl & Bartosz Losiak finished fourth in Gstaad and shortened the distance to Ahman & Hellvig to just 400 points.

With their quarterfinal finish, Qatar’s Cherif Younousse & Ahmed Tijan, Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medallists and a former world’s number one team, moved up a spot to number four, overtaking Dutchmen Alexander Brouwer & Robert Meeuwsen.

Among the other fifth-place finishers last week, Brazil’s Pedro Solberg & Gustavo Carvalhaes (Guto) skyrocketed 62 positions to enter the top 100 for the first time in number 80, after just three tournaments played in total since they partnered up.

Despite coming up only with a ninth-place finish in Gstaad, Germany’s Clemens Wickler & Nils Ehlers climbed back up to number nine, their highest position ever as a team, which they had dropped out of some two months ago.

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

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