Beach Pro Tour - News

Scoles/Flint (USA) vs. Stam/Schoon (NED) - Semifinals #6136855

Flint & Scoles celebrate their semifinal win in Montreal

Making it to the podium at last week’s Montreal Elite16 on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour proved quite beneficial in terms of FIVB Beach Volleyball World Ranking positioning as all the medallists gained ground after the most recent update of the charts. Women’s runners-up Betsi Flint & Julia Scoles, for example, made it to the top 10 for the first time in the team’s existence, which started in the late fall of 2022.

The American pair netted 640 of the 1,100 points that came with their Montreal silver and moved two spots up the ranking, from number 11 to number 9, on a new total of 5,860, just 20 points below eighth-ranked Nina Brunner & Tanja Huberli of Switzerland. Flint & Scoles are now the fourth US duo among the top 10 in the World Ranking, along with number two Sara Hughes & Kelly Cheng, number three Taryn Kloth & Kristen Nuss and number seven Terese Cannon & Sarah Sponcil. This sets the stage for a really exciting race for the maximum of two American tickets to the Olympic Games in Paris next year.

The other two women’s medallists in Montreal, who have also been in the race for points for a relatively short period, have yet to make it to the top 10, but got really, really close. Third-placed Xue Chen & Xia Xinyi of China are now in number 11, or 12 spots up from their pre-Montreal position. They collected 1,000 points with their bronze and pocketed most of it towards a new total of 5,340.

Just 60 points below, in number 13, are Montreal champions Melissa Humana-Paredes & Brandie Wilkerson. The Canadians netted the entire 1,200 points earned in the home sand and, after only six appearances on Tour, improved to 5,280, leaping 13 spots up in comparison to last week.

Fourth-placed Katja Stam & Raisa Schoon of the Netherlands also improved their ranking, climbing from number six to number five.

Among the four women’s teams that finished the Montreal Elite16 with a fifth-place result, Agatha Bednarczuk & Rebecca Cavalcanti made the highest upward jump of 20 spots, from 64th to 44th.

The men’s winners in Montreal, Norway’s Anders Mol & Christian Sorum, did not gain in terms of positions, as they have already been the world’s number one team for 44 straight weeks, but net-gained 200 of the 1,200 points earned to improve to 9,300 and widen the distance to second-ranked Swedes David Ahman & Jonatan Hellvig to as many as 2,060 points.

Miles Partain & Andrew Benesh, who made it to number 10 in the world for two weeks after winning the Gstaad Elite16, but then dropped down to 11th for a week, are now up to the highest position the team has ever occupied. Pocketing most of the 1,100 points that came with their Montreal silver, the Americans improved to 6,440 total and climbed four spots up the chart, surging to number seven.

Just above them on 6,500, in number six, and improving from last week’s seventh place, are Montreal bronze medallists Adrian Carambula & Alex Ranghieri of Italy, whose result in Canada helped them add 760 points to their total.

Two Brazilian teams are now sharing the number 14 spot. Montreal semifinalists Evandro Oliveira & Arthur Mariano and quarterfinalists Renato Lima & Vitor Felipe ascended to that position from number 20 and from number 17, respectively.

Among the other three fifth-place finishers in Montreal, Germans Clemens Wickler & Nils Ehlers improved from number nine to number eight, while Netherlands’ Alexander Brouwer & Robert Meeuwsen, previously fifth, overtook Cherif Younousse & Ahmed Tijan into the fourth place, pushing the Qataris down to number five.